The Current Status of Outpatient Approaches to Parent–Child Contact Problems

Abstract

This chapter describes the status of outpatient clinical interventions for unjustified parent–child contact problems using an ecological systems approach. It starts with a review of the multiple factors found to be associated with the development of parent–child contact problems, which include parenting styles and skills, parental alienating behaviors, cognitive distortions, history of the parent–child relationship, parental psychopathology, interparental conflict, and court involvement. Next, the chapter considers the specific goals of reunification treatment for the alienated child, the rejected parent, and the favored parent. Finally, the chapter critically reviews the state of outcome evidence for a range of outpatient and intensive reintegration interventions. Key clinical and theoretical components of each intervention are highlighted, noting both components that the interventions share and those that distinguish them.