The increasingly widespread use of parenting coordination to provide ongoing, intensive case management of higher conflict child custody cases recognizes the many advantages of this alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process in the family courts. The essential functions of the parenting coordination process are to create appropriate parenting plans; to build functional, enduring coparenting relationships; and to resolve ongoing coparenting disputes. In this article, an experienced multidisciplinary group from different jurisdictions across the United States examines a few of the most challenging issues that currently confront the field of parenting coordination. These include legal issues, such as the quasi‐judicial authority of the parenting coordinator (PC) derived from statutory and legislative means, continuing jurisdiction of cases, and constitutional challenges. A description of cases that can benefit from the appointment of a PC is provided, as well as a judicial view of the pros and cons of the role. Essential aspects of the practice are discussed, including the importance of structure and boundaries, challenges to the use of the role, liability issues, and the PC's role in creating and managing collaborative teams to work on these cases. The article concludes with a vision of the future that highlights the need for research and training to responsibly advance this promising, emerging role.

Overcoming Barriers Family Camp is an innovative program designed to treat separating and divorced families where a child is resisting contact or totally rejecting a parent. Both parents, significant others, and children participate in a 5‐day family camp experience that combines psycho‐education and clinical intervention in a safe, supportive milieu. This article describes the components of the program, from referrals to intake to aftercare. Evaluation immediately following the camp experience is provided for the camps that ran in 2008 and 2009, and 6‐month follow‐up interview information is provided for the 2008 camp program as well as 1‐month follow‐up about the initiation of aftercare with the 2009 families. A discussion of the strengths and challenges of this approach with entrenched, high‐conflict family systems concludes the article.

The increasingly widespread use of parenting coordination to provide ongoing, intensive case management of higher conflict child custody cases recognizes the many advantages of this alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process in the family courts. The essential functions of the parenting coordination process are to create appropriate parenting plans; to build functional, enduring coparenting relationships; and to resolve ongoing coparenting disputes. In this article, an experienced multidisciplinary group from different jurisdictions across the United States examines a few of the most challenging issues that currently confront the field of parenting coordination. These include legal issues, such as the quasi-judicial authority of the parenting coordinator (PC) derived from statutory and legislative means, continuing jurisdiction of cases, and constitutional challenges. A description of cases that can benefit from the appointment of a PC is provided, as well as a judicial view of the pros and cons of the role. Essential aspects ofthe practice are discussed, including the importance of structure and boundaries, challenges to the use of the role, liability issues, and the F'C's role in creating and managing collaborative teams to work on these cases. The article concludes with a vision of the future that highlights the need for research and training to responsibly advance this promising, emerging role.

This study examines factors that contribute to the emotional distress of children whose parents experience an acrimonious divorce with conflict over custody and visitation issues. Information was gathered systematically from guardian ad litem reports on 105 children in order to explore the child's emotional distress in response to individual‐, parental‐, marital‐, and custody–related factors. Findings emphasize the impact of the level of marital conflict in predicting increases in the child's emotional distress. The child who witnesses domestic violence and experiences child malmatment suffers a powerful cumulative impact from these factors. which results in a steep increase in emotional distress symptoms. A cluster of relevantfactors taken jointly, including the level of marital conflict, violence against a partner or against the child, the parent's mental health, the child's medical condition, and the nature of visitation changes, all contribute signifcantly to the child's emotional distress.

Attachment formation is considered a developmental process that continues far beyond infancy and early childhood. Yet the research on adolescent attachment formation remains relatively modest. This article reviews the normative and pathological developmental trajectories of attachment during adolescence. Specific attention is focused on the assessment of attachment in adolescence and different classification systems developed to describe adaptive and maladaptive adolescent attachment. The review continues with an examination into the predictors associated with secure versus insecure attachment in adolescence. Finally, forensic considerations are explored.

Parent-child contact problems may arise in the context of high conflict separation/divorce dynamics between parents. In cases where there are parent-child contact problems and children resist or refuse contact with one of their parents, there may also be incidents of child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, or compromised parenting that can be experienced by a parent or child as traumatic. The circumstances around separation and/or post-divorce often result in intense stress for families. In this paper we distinguish between the stressful circumstances that may arise as a result of high interparental conflict and pulls for alignment from a parent, and the real or perceived trauma as a factor which contributes to resistance or refusal of a child to have contact with a parent. Interventions to address both trauma responses and the resist-refuse dynamics are differentiated and discussed. After screening and assessment, the intent is to treat trauma responses with short-term, evidence-based therapy, either before or concurrent with co-parent and family intervention. Key Points for the Family Court Community:Parent-child contact problems may have many causes. When children resist contact with a parent the multiple factors including trauma, that result in this problem must be explored.Assessing the impact and symptoms of interparental conflict and trauma on children and coparents, including emotional dysregulation resulting in feelings of being overwhelmed or needing to avoid is necessary to proceed with a family intervention For family intervention to be successful It is necessary for each family member to be able to manage distressing emotions without feeling overwhelmed or numb and to be able to process information accurately. These issues may result in one of the treatment components that can occur before or at the same time as the family intervention.Delaying contact with a parent generally results in more negative characterization, anxiety and polarization and is generally not recommended. Instead safe, structured contact to begin the process of desensitization should occur once the parent and child have basic skills of coping with and managing distressing thoughts and feelings.

Effective family interventions when children resist or reject contact with a parent in highly conflicted coparenting cases continue to pose significant challenges for mental health professionals, lawyers, and the courts. There is no consensus within the social science research literature on how best to identify, assess, and clinically respond to situations involving resist-refuse dynamics, which are multifaceted in causation and require clinical and often legal remedies. This chapter differentiates parent–child contact problems on a continuum by nature and severity, provides a triaged model of differentiated clinical and legal approaches, and briefly summarizes the existing research on the efficacy of existing interventions. A moderately severe case example is presented to illustrate screening, assessment, and treatment plan development, the application of Multifaceted Family Therapy, and coordinated legal interventions.

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