Overcoming Parent-Child Contact Problems

"Judge and Deutsch have garnered a collection of outstanding thinkers and clinicians with deep and broad expertise in handling the complexities involved when a child refuses to spend time with or rejects a parent. Together, the chapters offer a sophisticated road map of conceptual, clinical, and empirical views of the problem and potential solutions. This volume focuses on an intervention that has met with success in a field littered with clinical failures; in doing so, the authors provide hope and pave the way toward new methods of improving estranged child and parent relationships."--Marsha Kline Pruett, PhD, MSL, Maconda Brown O'Connor Professor, Smith College School for Social Work "This is a timely and thoughtful contribution to the vexing challenge of reintegrating the family when children resist contact. This cutting-edge book clearly articulates the importance of non-office-based therapeutic approaches to challenge rigidly stuck family systems. The authors describe the key elements of their ground-breaking program, provide practical techniques clinicians can use in their practice today, and provide concepts that family law attorneys and judges can use in crafting orders tomorrow. Read this book!"--Angus Strachan, PhD, Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA "This book is a must-read for family law lawyers and judges to understand the complex dynamics of the refuse/resist case, to learn about the resources available for the entire family, and to create a collaborative process within the legal and therapeutic systems. Building on the lessons learned from Family Camp and Intensive Weekends, these author-practitioners share cutting-edge theory and practical solutions for the cases that have us pulling our hair out with frustration."--Marjorie A. Slabach, Retired Superior Court Commissioner, San Francisco, CA "This book is a welcome addition to the literature of divorce, law, and psychology. Chapters highlight the challenge of responding to high-conflict divorce involving children and where consistent involvement of both parents in the children's lives is conflictual or nonexistent. Nationally respected professionals address the problem as a family problem and identify interventions for the whole family. EL This is an important contribution. It is sure to guide professionals and families to more healthy and satisfying relationships."--John Sargent, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Tufts University School of Medicine