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Whether at school or in the neighborhood, a bully can cause significant physical and mental distress to your child. The advent of the internet and social media has made it so your child’s bully can also follow them online, potentially subjecting them to an endless barrage of threats and harassment.
In Missouri, you and your child do not have to suffer due to a bully. St. Louis County Family Court offers tools that can help protect your child — if you have the right lawyer on your side. A skilled St. Louis family law attorney from Grant, Miller & Smith, LLC can help you access valuable court resources to effectively combat bullying.
Divorce and separating parents can be emotionally difficult challenges for children. Some peers may pick up on your child’s emotional sensitivity or self-esteem and begin to bully them over their experiences. Or the bully might simply pick on your child because they feel your child is “different.”
Whatever the reason why your child is being bullied, it is crucial that you recognize the signs and take prompt action. Be on the lookout for:
Not all children are comfortable telling their parents about a bully, especially if they are also trying to navigate a divorce or other domestic relations issues.
The sooner you recognize the signs of bullying, the sooner you and your family attorney from Grant, Miller & Smith, LLC can take action to address it. Our seasoned team has years of experience successfully helping families navigate a variety of family law challenges, and we can use our knowledge of the St. Louis County courts and Missouri law to help you overcome the challenges of your child’s bully.
With a qualified attorney on your side, you will find you have a range of options for dealing with a bully in Missouri. Some of the tools available include:
As a first step, you and your lawyer could pursue protective orders that prohibit the bully from having contact with your child. These orders can provide your child’s school with the legal grounds they need to separate your child from the bully and keep them from interacting with one another.
Protective orders can also be useful in stopping online harassment. If the bully or the bully’s parents are making harassing or threatening posts online, a restraining order can direct them to cease.
If your child’s bully crosses the line and their actions become criminal in nature, reporting the matter to the police can require the bully and their parents to appear in juvenile court.
While juvenile proceedings in Missouri are different than those used to adjudicate adults, they can still result in a bully being placed on court-monitored supervision and ordered to:
In extreme cases, the bully may be ordered to detention if their behavior does not improve.
Grant, Miller & Smith, LLC has extensive experience with Missouri juvenile law, and we can help you explore whether this is a viable option for your child’s bully situation.Dealing with a bully is especially challenging if you are divorced or separated from the other parent. If your child encounters their bully while in the custody of the other parent, and that parent is not adequately addressing the matter, you may need to seek a modification of your custody arrangement.
With a custody modification, your child could live primarily with you and go to a new school that is different from their previous one. This presents its own challenges, but it could give your child the physical space and separation from their bully that they need to feel safe.
In addition, if the bullying persists because the other parent failed to address it, the court can place restrictions on that parent’s ability to exercise visitation. Such visitation may be supervised until the court is assured of your child’s safety. The other parent could also be ordered to complete parenting classes designed to help them better address bullying.
Navigating family law matters is stressful enough on its own. But dealing with someone bullying your child as you try to work through the case is an added challenge that no parent wants their child to experience.
Grant, Miller & Smith, LLC is your premier choice for a family law team that can protect the rights of both your child and your family in St. Louis County. Contact us to schedule your free consultation today.