Court Ordered Intervention
Forensically informed therapeutic interventions address a broad range of referral issues such as reunification, relocation, estrangement, child maltreatment, parental substance abuse, and mental health issues. A therapeutic interventionist has both forensic and clinical responsibilities, to treat and manage cases with a specific scope of authority and prescribed duties.
Therapeutic Reunification
Therapeutic Reunification is aimed at unifying a child with a parent or a caretaker. Typically it is used for cases in which a parent for one reason or another has become estranged from a child, or is being reunited with a parent or caretaker. It generally consists of progressive interaction between a child and parent or sibling that begins in the office and proceeds with step-wise approximations to the custody/parenting-time order at a rate that supports the well-being of the child.
Therapeutic Reunification occurs when the court has usually determined that the reunifying parent does not pose a substantial danger to the child and that unsupervised access is scheduled to resume. In some cases, it is typical for one parent to wish for reunification and for another parent to oppose it.
In some cases, the court will determine the reunification plan. While every case varies on its own merit, typically, there are four to eight weekly sessions in the office with a progressive out-of-office access schedule to follow. Supervised visits may or may not be part of this process. A typical course of intervention is twenty to fifty-two weeks. In most cases, the intervention begins weekly, moves to bi-weekly, and then to monthly, as parenting-time increases. In some cases, resistance remains throughout the intervention and weekly appointments are needed to stabilize the family before parenting-time with the non-preferred parent can take place.
Therapeutic interventions may provide in addition to a renewed relationship between identified individuals skills regarding boundaries, behaviors, and rules that enhance the safety and health in the family. Make referrals for therapy. Develop or implement court-ordered visitation. Assist in conflict resolution. Educate and decrease re-litigation. Implement specific child exchanges, and who is or is not present at exchanges.