Parental conflicts and the resulting alienation of a child from one of the parents are a problem that can lead to emotional abuse of the child, the Ministry of Welfare (LM) acknowledged to the LETA news agency.
According to Ilze Kurme, Director of the Ministry’s Department of Child and Family Policy, under the current legal framework, such cases are already considered emotional abuse. At present, the most important task is to ensure the competent application of existing laws in practice, Kurme emphasized.
The Ministry is cooperating with the Ministry of Justice and other institutions to promote inter-institutional cooperation, the use of mediation, and the professional development of specialists, including training on the best interests of the child and the recognition of emotional abuse.
At the same time, work is underway on parent education initiatives and attracting European Union funds to expand training programs and improve professional competence in the field of child rights protection, the ministry informed.
As previously reported, a signature collection campaign has been launched on the public initiative portal Manabalss.lv for an initiative aimed at reducing the number of cases in which one parent is restricted or completely denied contact with their children, the initiative group “No to Parental Alienation” told LETA.
The authors of the initiative are parents who have had their contact with their children restricted
or completely denied for years. They describe this situation as the deliberate alienation of a child from a parent, calling on lawmakers to recognize it as emotional abuse and to introduce legal consequences for such actions, including the possibility of restricting custody rights and applying other child protection measures.
The initiative’s authors also urge the creation of mechanisms that would ensure both the child’s and the non-custodial parent’s right to contact, unless there is proven evidence of a real threat to the child’s safety.
According to Latvian law, every child has the right to maintain meaningful relationships with both parents, siblings, grandparents, and other persons with whom the child has lived together for a long time, even if the parents are divorced. However, the initiative group argues that these rights are often not adequately protected in Latvia.
Currently, in divorce and custody disputes,
one parent can intentionally alienate the child from the other parent and their family, denying contact for years.
The authors believe that courts, orphan’s courts, and social services lack a unified protocol and clear procedures for identifying and addressing such situations in the child’s best interests. Based on their experience, the only practical solution currently available is to apply to a bailiff, yet in practice this is not an effective instrument, and the procedure is too costly and inaccessible for many families.
The authors also refer to statements from the Ombudsman’s Office, which has stressed that the state has an obligation to ensure mechanisms that protect both the child’s and the non-resident parent’s right to family life.
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