This will sound awful but as the kids are so weaponised, he might just be taking a mental breather from trying to get the contact and putting his trust into professionals. It’s a big risk. it might backfire
But imagine this. You are with the kids you love and struggled to have. You feel guilty about what has happened. You are trying to build trust with them and be a parent. Every comment you make, every way you look at them, every step and decision he makes is analysed and torn apart by both the kids and Alice hours later, for days on end. Thrown back at him over and over. That decision he made last week about a phrase he used means he is punished by Alice and Ella. He pays back over and over 100 times for every single perceived ‘misstep’ he makes. He tries to stick to the agreement, he’s wrong. He tries to be reasonable, he’s wrong. He backs off, he doesn’t care. He pushes to see them and he’s threatened by emailing his family and friends and posts on Twitter.
In his position, you too would retreat and regroup.
I don’t doubt he loves them and misses them but I cannot imagine how painful and draining the price is of getting just one simple phone call with your child. At some point you aren’t going to want to make that phone call and not be able to face it, or keep it together. Then she thinks she’s won
