A Brief Summary of AFCC’s Online Training Program: Advanced Issues in Family Law: Parent-Child Contact Problems

By Shelley Bresnick, PsyD and Marlene Bizub, PsyD

We attended this training in January of 2025. The training took place from 9:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m. over four days and was excellent. The presenters were internationally known experts in the field, and provided extensive information and discussion about working with families in which parent- child contact problems exist. AFCC has become a leader in the field for multidisciplinary education on topics affecting professionals who work with divorce and family law, and this training is an example of AFCC’s tradition of excellence in education and training. We recommend it highly!

Some of the takeaways that stood out to us are as follows.

• Some cases should not be considered for family therapy. Red flags to investigate are: safety concerns, a long period of no contact between child and parent, limitations in the parent or child, circumstances such as lack of funds or difficult logistics, ongoing litigation, non-supportive others such as extended family or other professionals. All these factors may present problems so family therapy could be undermined or possibly detrimental to the family. These factors will need to be assessed prior to beginning family therapy and even at the start of family therapy, as they may not all be readily apparent.
• Therapists need to have a structured process when working with families where there are PCCP’s. This training provided a structured process including screening, assessment, setting goals, determining steps to goals, collaborating with other professionals, working on goals, reviewing progress and adjusting goals, and termination.
• Taking time to screen and assess all family members to understand what the dynamics, environment, and individual family member characteristics are contributing to the PCCP’s is essential.
• Setting goals all family members are aware of and agree to is important.
• All family members must participate in therapy, including the favored parent. The child will not participate (or at least not fully or genuinely), unless the favored parent has buy- in and is supportive of therapy.
• Family therapy is intensive therapy, not one hour per week for six or eight weeks. It takes time to correct the course of action present in the family for an extended period of time.
• Parent acknowledgement and sincere apology are crucial. Apologies must be specific, not a blanket or vague statement.
• Therapists need to collaborate with other professionals who are working on the case, and there should be a team approach to the family all professionals are aware of.
• Therapists and other professionals cannot become aligned with one parent and, thus, work against each other instead of together. Becoming aligned with one family member is a common problem in these cases, especially in relationships where the professional only sees one family member and only hears their side of the story. Professionals must remain open-minded and remind themselves there are always two or more sides of the story, and what are the over-arching goals for the family.
• The child may not change their position, no matter what happens in family therapy. So parents may have to come to terms with how they can deal with unjust treatment or rejection from the child.
• Forgiveness is the gift you get if you do the other work! Family therapy in PCCP cases is not easy, and it requires all family members do some soul-searching and hard work. When forgiveness is needed to move forward, it has to be earned, and this can take a lot of time and effort.

While these items are just a few of the valuable lessons or pieces of information presented in the training, we hope they give you some extra knowledge and a desire to learn more about how to address PCCP’s. The more you learn and the more informed your protocol for working with these families, the better the outcome will be for the families and for you.