REUNIFICATION THERAPY
What is it and Tips to Make it a Success
INTRODUCTION
▪
What is Reunification Therapy?
▪
Mechanisms Responsible for Ruptured Parent-Child Relationship
▪
➢ Terms
▪
Ruptured parent-child relationship
▪
Residential parent and non-residential parent.
Types of Reunification Therapy
▪
The Counselor’s Role
▪
Process of Reunification Therapy
▪
Child
▪
Method of Treatment
▪
Counselor
▪
Benefits from Reunification Therapy
▪
Scapegoating
▪
Alienation
▪
Triangulation
▪
Typical Parental Reactions to Reunification Therapy
▪
Child’s decision making regarding Reunification Therapy
▪
Tips for a successful Reunification Therapy
▪
When Reunification Therapy does not work
WHAT IS REUNIFICATION THERAPY?
▪ Reunification Therapy/Reintegration TherapyInterchangeable.
▪ A therapeutic process designed to repair
ruptured parent-child relationships, with the
goal to restore not only physical contact but
meaningful social, emotional, and interpersonal
exchanges between parents and children.
▪ Typically, a long process.
MECHANISMS RESPONSIBLE FOR RUPTURED
PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP
➢ Children are adversely affected by the different mechanisms responsible for the
dissolution of parents’ relationship and the loss of a parent.
▪ Intrapersonal absence of the parent
▪ Situational absence of the parent
▪ Lack of Functional Parenting
▪ Hybrid ruptured parent-child relationship
TYPES OF REUNIFICATION THERAPY
➢ Court Ordered Reunification Therapy
▪ Mandated therapeutic process for the best interest of the
child.
➢ Non-Court Ordered Reunification Therapy
▪ Requested by parents, child, family members, or
professionals to meet child’s specific needs
THE COUNSELOR’S ROLE
▪ Facilitates a healthy, safe, and neutral environment for parent-child
relationship reparation.
▪ Focuses on the best interest of the child.
▪ Maintains healthy and collaborative communication with the
appropriate parties.
▪ Provides healthy tools for non-residential parent and child to build a
healthy relationship.
▪ Provides parent consultation.
▪ NOT a Parental Responsibility Evaluator (PRE), Child and Family
Investigator (CFI), Child’s Legal Representative (CLR), or legal counsel.
PROCESS OF REUNIFICATION THERAPY
➢ Stage 1- Initial Individual meetings with non-residential parent, residential parent, and child.
▪ Documentation - Informed consent- Intake Paperwork, Court Order documents, & Releases of Information.
▪ Method of Payment - Who is responsible for payment?
▪ Assessment of family suitability for a successful reunification process
▪ Readiness- What is their reaction to reunification, what are their goals, and what are the support systems they can
rely on while going through the process?
▪ Willingness- Can they tolerate the long process of reunification, can they participate with presence, acceptance,
respect, and patience?
▪ Ability- Are they able to take the process seriously and follow the rules, boundaries, and compliance without
alienation and/or triangulation?
➢ Stage 2- Preparation
▪ Individual sessions with the child
▪ Building therapeutic rapport and trust.
▪ Helping the child feel safe and comfortable before
interacting with their non-residential parent.
▪ Encouraging child express their thoughts and
feelings and write questions they want to ask their
parent in session.
▪ Planning activities the child would like to do in
session with the non-residential parent.
▪ Individual sessions with non-residential parent
▪ Building therapeutic rapport.
▪ Helping the parent recognize accountability and to provide clarification for their absence
in the child’s life without blaming the residential parent.
▪ Helping the parent understand and accept the child’s criticism, complaints, and resistance
due to the negative impact of past events that ruptured their relationship.
▪ Requesting the parent to write an apology letter that is appropriate to the child’s age,
comprehension, and best interest, in which the parent recognizes accountability and
validates the child’s thoughts and feelings.
▪ Helping the parent practice healthy boundaries, consistency, commitment, empathy, and
patience in the reunification process.
➢ Stage 3- Reunification
▪ Sessions with the non-residential parent and child
▪ Initial Contact- Child chooses method of introduction.
▪ The number of sessions depends on the court order or
the best interest of the child.
▪ Child asks prepared questions and parent provides
apology letter.
▪ Child and parent participate in treatment with
directive activities in which they can express their
thoughts and feelings in a healthy and safe way.
METHOD OF TREATMENT
➢ Based on the specific needs and characteristics of the family
▪ Family Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy(CBT), Dialectical
Behavioral Therapy(DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
▪ Play therapy- board games, card games, sand tray….
▪ Art therapy- painting, drawing, coloring, clay sculpting….
▪ Talk therapy- open ended questions, check-ins, reflections, psycho-education
on healthy boundaries, communication, and connection….
BENEFITS FROM REUNIFICATION THERAPY
▪ Provides a therapeutic safe and secure interventions, maintains a
healthy structure in which children and parents are encouraged to
express their thoughts and feelings, practice healthy boundaries,
reduce conflict, and reconnect and develop a healthier relationship.
▪ Encourages healthy parent-child involvement and cohesive coparenting
▪ Allows children make sense of the situation and develop resilience and
autonomy.
▪ Helps the child develop a better overall adjustment in their lives to be
able to maintain adaptive and positive relationships with both parents.
TYPICAL PARENTAL REACTIONS TO
REUNIFICATION THERAPY
Fear-Based Reactions
➢ Non-residential Parent
➢ Residential Parent
▪
Defensive, emotionally devastated, and hopeless.
▪ Overprotective of child, alienating, and helpless.
▪
Commonly excited while resistant or hesitant about the
reunification therapy process.
▪ Commonly angry and resistant or hesitant about therapy
process.
▪
Impatient and feeling of giving up when they think
reunification therapy “is too much work”.
▪ Controlling and feeling powerless when they cannot make the
decision regarding reunification therapy.
▪
Wants to abandon reunification therapy when child is
resistant and/or offensive towards parent.
▪ Makes excuses and gives the child the responsibility to decide if
they want to participate in reunification therapy.
▪
Hopes and wishes a spontaneous reunification with the
child when the child is an adult.
▪ Wants to wait until the child is an adult to make decisions
regarding reunification with no-residential parent.
CHILD’S DECISION MAKING REGARDING
REUNIFICATION THERAPY
▪ Child’s egocentric developmental process prohibits children to
make well-reasoned and full decisions in their best interest
regarding health, education, parental responsibilities, and timesharing with their parents.
▪ Child’s self-perception is adversely impacted when they are
asked to make sole decisions regarding ruptured parent-child
relationship, which can increase the potential risk of self-blame,
guilt, shame, and symptoms of anxiety and depression.
▪ Child’s contribution to decision making during the reunification
therapy process about boundaries, compromising, and
communication with their parents has shown positive results to
overall child adjustment.
QUESTIONS
▪
Should a child be put in a situation in which they feel compelled to deny seeing their non-residential parent due to the pressure of their
residential parent while simultaneously desiring a relationship with both parents?
▪ Children make loyalty-base or fear-based decisions to please their residential parent; making them feel they have betrayed their nonresidential parent; increasing feelings of guilt or shame and depressive symptoms.
▪
Should a child be encouraged to give a hurtful and disrespectful statement against a parent that could place the child in a difficult position
when subsequently they are required to spend time with that parent?
▪ Children who are persuaded to give statements against a parent who they need to spend time with, may experience elevated and
unnecessary fear of the parent, mistrust, disruptive behavior, and anxiety symptoms.
▪
Should a child believe that they have the sole power to determine parental access and time-sharing with a parent?
▪ Children may easily believe that they can make power-based adult decisions and disregard the development of parent-child relationship
with any parent. They can also think they have the right to ignore parental rules and decision making regarding academic and social
boundaries.
TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL REUNIFICATION
THERAPY
➢ Healthy Communication
▪ Email- Address both parents.
▪ Respect everyone involved in the process.
➢ Focus on the best interest of the child
▪ Put child’s well-being as the priority and support
them.
▪ Encourage and empower the child to develop
healthy relationships.
➢ Demonstrate readiness, willingness, and ability
▪ Show up, be present, support the process, and have their
own support system.
➢ Parental compliance
▪ Show the child respect, help the child practice healthy
boundaries, take ownership, allow child to set their own
boundaries.
▪ Let the child decide if they like the parent, teach the child
healthy communication and interactions, encourage the
child to take accountability, and teach them appropriate
behavior.
▪ When Reunification Therapy does not work
▪ Parents persist on fear-based reactions and not trusting the
process.
▪ Parents continue to have unhealthy communication.
▪ Parents are focused on self-interest and not on the best interest
of the child.
▪ Parents are not compliant to Reunification Therapy rules and
boundaries.
▪ Counselor becomes biased and does not enforce rules and
boundaries.
▪ Third Parties alienate or triangulate the reunification process.
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Resources
Reunification Family Therapy- A Treatment Manual- Jan Faust, PhD, ABPP
An Attachment-Based Model of Parental Alienation: Foundations- C.A.Childress Psy.D
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9778863/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7787395/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27074348/
https://www.courts.state.co.us/Administration/Section.cfm?Section=jp3pre
https://www.courts.state.co.us/Administration/Section.cfm?Section=jp3domprog
https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/8th%20Judicial%20District/CLR%20Explanation.pdf