A Comprehensive Approach to Family Reunification Following Incest in an Era of Legislatively Mandated Community Notification

Abstract

There is little comprehensive literature that outlines the treatment process of reunification of the incest family where the father is the offender. Most of the literature regarding family reunification offers family therapy models which fail to integrate the individuals' perspective and issues related to the abuse with the formulation of a family therapy plan. Treatment providers often prematurely approach this reunification process prior to understanding all of the dynamics involved in a safe process which ensures the comfort of the victim while understanding the relapse prevention plan of the offender. They recommend family therapy when one family member requests it without considering the progress or requests of the other family members. This may assist the family in the hope that reunification may be just around the corner when in fact, the offender may not have learned his risk factors or does not have a workable relapse prevention plan. The victim, while he/she may request the meeting, may not be ready to process his/her feelings regarding the abuse. This paper examines the current literature on incestuous family reunification and present a comprehensive treatment model that takes into consideration each family member's issues regarding the abuse. A victim-centered approach integrated with offender specific treatment will be discussed. The impact of the current notification laws on the family and how the therapist role regarding this impact both with the family and the other systems are also discussed.