Working With Alienated Children and Families

This edited volume is written by and for mental health professionals who work directly with alienated children and their parents. The chapters are written by leaders in the field, all of whom know how vexing parental alienation can be for mental health professionals. No matter how the professional intersects with families affected by alienation, be it through individual treatment, reunification therapy, a school setting, or support groups, he or she needs to consider how to make proper assessments, how to guard against bias, and when and how to involve the court system, among other challenges. The cutting edge clinical interventions presented in this book will help professionals answer these questions and help them to help their clients. The authors present a range of clinical options such as parent education, psycho-educational programs for children, and reunification programs for children and parents that make this volume a useful reference and practical guide.

Amy J. L. Baker, Ph.D., is the author of Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Breaking the Ties That Bind, as well as over 65 peer-reviewed publications on the topic of parental alienation, psychological maltreatment, child welfare, and parent-child relationships. She conducts research at the Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection. S. Richard Sauber, Ph.D., has been in practice for 30 years as a forensic family and clinical psychologist. He is certified in Family and Clinical Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology and licensed by the Ordre des Psychologues du Québec, Canada. He has also been the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Family Therapy since 1976.

Foreword William Bernet 1. Introduction Amy J. L. Baker 2. Clinical Reasoning and Decision-Making in Cases of Child Alignment: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Issues Steven G. Miller 3. Custody Evaluations in Alienation Cases S. Richard Sauber, Abe Worenklein 4. The Essential Role of the Mental Health Consultant in Parental Alienation Cases J. Michael Bone, S. Richard Sauber 5. Educating Divorcing Parents: Taking Them Beyond the High Road Amy J. L. Baker, Paul Fine 6. Psychotherapy with Targeted Parents Bill and Lorna Goldberg 7. Supporting Targeted Parents: The International Support Network for Alienated Families Karen Lebow 8. Psycho-Educational Work with Children in Loyalty Conflict: The I Don't Want to Choose Program Amy J. L. Baker, Katherine Andre 9. Walking on Thin Ice: Providing Effective, Systemically Informed, Child-Centered Psychotherapies for Children of Divorce Benjamin D. Garber 10. Reunification and the One-Way Mirror Jack Weitzman 11. The Effectiveness of the Application of Structural Family Therapy to Treatment of the PAS Family Linda Gottlieb 12. Family Reunification in a Forensic Setting Jane Albertson-Kelly, Barbara Burkhard 13. Working with Adult Children of Parental Alienation Joe Rabiega, Amy J. L. Baker