The increasingly widespread use of parenting coordination to provide ongoing, intensive case management of higher conflict child custody cases recognizes the many advantages of this alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process in the family courts. The essential functions of the parenting coordination process are to create appropriate parenting plans; to build functional, enduring coparenting relationships; and to resolve ongoing coparenting disputes. In this article, an experienced multidisciplinary group from different jurisdictions across the United States examines a few of the most challenging issues that currently confront the field of parenting coordination. These include legal issues, such as the quasi‐judicial authority of the parenting coordinator (PC) derived from statutory and legislative means, continuing jurisdiction of cases, and constitutional challenges. A description of cases that can benefit from the appointment of a PC is provided, as well as a judicial view of the pros and cons of the role. Essential aspects of the practice are discussed, including the importance of structure and boundaries, challenges to the use of the role, liability issues, and the PC's role in creating and managing collaborative teams to work on these cases. The article concludes with a vision of the future that highlights the need for research and training to responsibly advance this promising, emerging role.

Overcoming Barriers Family Camp is an innovative program designed to treat separating and divorced families where a child is resisting contact or totally rejecting a parent. Both parents, significant others, and children participate in a 5‐day family camp experience that combines psycho‐education and clinical intervention in a safe, supportive milieu. This article describes the components of the program, from referrals to intake to aftercare. Evaluation immediately following the camp experience is provided for the camps that ran in 2008 and 2009, and 6‐month follow‐up interview information is provided for the 2008 camp program as well as 1‐month follow‐up about the initiation of aftercare with the 2009 families. A discussion of the strengths and challenges of this approach with entrenched, high‐conflict family systems concludes the article.

The increasingly widespread use of parenting coordination to provide ongoing, intensive case management of higher conflict child custody cases recognizes the many advantages of this alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process in the family courts. The essential functions of the parenting coordination process are to create appropriate parenting plans; to build functional, enduring coparenting relationships; and to resolve ongoing coparenting disputes. In this article, an experienced multidisciplinary group from different jurisdictions across the United States examines a few of the most challenging issues that currently confront the field of parenting coordination. These include legal issues, such as the quasi-judicial authority of the parenting coordinator (PC) derived from statutory and legislative means, continuing jurisdiction of cases, and constitutional challenges. A description of cases that can benefit from the appointment of a PC is provided, as well as a judicial view of the pros and cons of the role. Essential aspects ofthe practice are discussed, including the importance of structure and boundaries, challenges to the use of the role, liability issues, and the F'C's role in creating and managing collaborative teams to work on these cases. The article concludes with a vision of the future that highlights the need for research and training to responsibly advance this promising, emerging role.

This study examines factors that contribute to the emotional distress of children whose parents experience an acrimonious divorce with conflict over custody and visitation issues. Information was gathered systematically from guardian ad litem reports on 105 children in order to explore the child's emotional distress in response to individual‐, parental‐, marital‐, and custody–related factors. Findings emphasize the impact of the level of marital conflict in predicting increases in the child's emotional distress. The child who witnesses domestic violence and experiences child malmatment suffers a powerful cumulative impact from these factors. which results in a steep increase in emotional distress symptoms. A cluster of relevantfactors taken jointly, including the level of marital conflict, violence against a partner or against the child, the parent's mental health, the child's medical condition, and the nature of visitation changes, all contribute signifcantly to the child's emotional distress.