If a parent has been absent from a child’s life for a significant time, it may be helpful to hire a mental health professional to assist the temporarily absent parent to reconnect with the child. Children, especially young children, who have not seen a parent for a long time, may be unsure of the parent or might be angry/alienated due to the conduct of the other parent. The parent may not want, or be able, to discuss why they were not spending time with the child. A mental health professional is used in these cases to help the parent and child redevelop a relationship. There is no set time-frame for a reunification. The length of time is based upon each family’s needs.
To begin the process, the parents can agree to appoint a reunification counselor or the Court may appoint the professional. Typically the reunification therapist will meet with each parent alone and the child alone to gain an understanding of the issues in the case. The therapist should then prepare a written reunification plan that will be presented to and signed by the parents. The plan will normally begin with the reunifying parent meeting with the children in the therapist’s office. The therapist will observe the interactions between the parent and the child. The therapist will speak with the children after the visit to be sure that they are comfortable and to address any concerns the child has. The therapist will also speak with the reunifying parent to discuss what went well and to provide helpful feedback for the next visit. Written progress notes should be given to each parent and their attorney after each visit to assist everyone in tracking the family’s progress.
Once the child and parent are comfortable, the therapist will continue to have supervised visits outside of the office. This can be a park, a sporting event, a restaurant, etc. The next step would be for the parent and child to have unsupervised time at a location previously agreed upon by the parent and the therapist. At this point, if the reunifying parent has a significant other, that person will participate in the process. If all goes well, the therapist will move to unsupervised overnights. After all visits, the therapist will speak with the child and the reunifying parent in order to immediately address any issues. Eventually the therapist would have the parents resume the previous timesharing schedule, if one existed. If no timesharing schedule existed, the parents could negotiate a schedule or the Court would order one.
Ideally, if you are being alienated from your child, you will not allow months, or even years, to pass by. Act quickly to hold the other parent in contempt of court and seek makeup time with your child before the need for reunification becomes an issue in your case.