Family Reunification
Structured plans for rebuilding parent-child relationships
What is our Family Reunification Programme?
Our Reunification Programme is a specialist service designed to help families rebuild relationships between parents and children after separation or estrangement.
This programme utilises therapeutic social work techniques, direct work resources, and play therapy skills to assist children and their families in overcoming post-separation difficulties. We aim to address issues such as children refusing to see or spend time with a parent and provide narratives and explanations for children to assist their understanding of changes within the family.
We have developed a specific programme called Assessing Complex Family Dynamics (ACFD). This programme involves preparing family members, both adults and children, for reunification through bespoke, age-appropriate direct work with children, coaching and guiding parents, and addressing any concerns about the engagement with the intervention.
What does Family Reunification work include?
Our Reunification Programme offers a comprehensive range of services, including:
1.
Conflict resolution advice
2.
Assessment of parenting styles and attachment
3.
Play and art therapy techniques
4.
Life story work
5.
Reintroduction and/or assessment of contact
6.
Therapeutic direct work resources and exercises
7.
Signposting and recommendations
8.
Reports for Court/parents
9.
Management of transfers of residence
Why Choose Us for Family Reunification support?
We are an independent social work consultancy, helping children and families faced with challenges. Our experienced team handles difficult cases and various family issues with empathy and sensitivity. We are frequently told we ‘go the extra mile’.
The service we offer is bespoke to each family, and we spend time carefully considering the needs of each family and creating plans and undertaking the necessary preparation work to ensure success.
Alison Bushell, our lead consultant, supervises all work to ensure top-quality service.
We offer fair and competitive prices, with clear costs and easily manageable online payments with transparent invoicing.
What preparatory work is needed for family reunification?
Preparatory work is essential for successful family reunification. This includes:
Meeting with parents separately
Meeting with children
Providing conflict resolution advice
Organising meetings between children and each parent, using a range of techniques depending on the issues to assist with and encourage the reunification
Exploring children’s current understanding and views of their family situation. Conducting assessments of parenting styles and attachment
Using therapeutic social work techniques and play therapy skills
Any concerns about the engagement with the intervention, from either parent or the children, will be addressed throughout the work to avoid delays and/or proceedings become protracted. The aim is to ensure children have a full and meaningful relationship with both of their parents.
FAQs
What is the process of family reunification?
Family reunification is a professional intervention designed to help rebuild a relationship between a parent and child after separation or breakdown. It involves therapeutic support, structured contact and ongoing assessment to ensure the process is safe and supports the child’s emotional and psychological wellbeing.
What documents are required for family reunification?
If Court documents are available, they are useful in helping professionals understand the history of the case. If the family is not involved in proceedings, we will usually gather a background history from both parents to inform our assessments and ensure appropriate support is provided.
Other Ways We Can Help
EMDR Therapy
We provide EMDR therapy to support children and adults in processing trauma and other distressing experiences. Sessions are tailored to the individual’s emotional readiness and delivered by trained practitioners using safe, evidence-based methods.
Supervised and supported family time
We provide structured contact sessions that ensure children’s safety and emotional wellbeing, offering both fully supervised and lightly supported formats based on the family’s needs.
Extended family interventions
We facilitate structured sessions involving extended family members to help children sustain valuable relationships within their wider support network.