April 2020

• Published date: 01 April 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12470
• Date: 01 April 2020
• Author: Marsha Kline Pruett,Barbara A. Babb

EDITORIAL NOTE

APRIL 2020

Every ten years, AFCC returns to the topic of parent–child contact problems in full scale: a conference

and/or a special issue of Family Court Review. With this special issue of FCR and the upcoming AFCC

conference on the same topic that will take place in New Orleans in late May, it is time for

another decade of reflection and analysis. In doing so, AFCC reasserts its commitment to tackle

ambiguous and contentious topics that lie at the heart of family court proceedings and family

dynamics in situations where parents’conflicts spill over into parent–child relationships. In this

latest iteration of FCR, we once again aim to lay out the “concepts, controversies and conun-

drums”that continue to perplex and confound the practice of family law. We do this even as

some of the most passionate and well-informed legal and psychological minds are set to the task

of better understanding and ameliorating child resistance to parental contact and all of the

related family dynamics.

Producing this special issue is not a task lightly undertaken, nor is it one for the feint hearted. Invari-

ably, conflicts flare among the professionals focused on the topic. As no good deed goes unpunished,

people with varying perspectives may appreciate FCR’s willingness to take up the challenges provided

by the topic, yet they may also have a strong reaction about the outcome in print. One issue cannot pos-

sibly do justice to all of the points and responses each author wants to convey. As editors, we have come

to accept that, in the final analysis, many people will be unhappy with what is said or not said, how it is

said, by whom, and the context within which it is discussed. Like the cases themselves, these complexi-

ties outstrip our ability to bring to light all of the issues without serving as a mirror of the disparate per-

spectives in the field. We offer a reminder that, if we could have made more progress solving the

dilemmas posed, we surely would have done so.

This remarkable collection of articles highlights the issues inherent in child resistance and

parent–child contact problems. It also includes discussions about the interventions and policies

aimed at responding to the problems from the vantage points of various countries, professional dis-

ciplines, and personal perspectives based on years of experience. We believe that if you read the

issue from a curious, open-minded viewpoint, you will find yourself with more knowledge and

more questions than before you began reading. Hopefully, just hopefully, you will feel better pre-

pared to tackle these cases with compassion and nuanced understanding.

Special issue editors Nick Bala and Barbara Fidler have demonstrated that the way forward

requires looking at all sides of the issues, from every perspective, maintaining a stance that is toler-

ant, perseverant, and demanding of respect for each position while supporting its full expression.

Reading this volume of FCR will offer education and training that is deep and insightful, tightly

packed into one special issue. As scholars and practitioners in the field, we then will be prepared to

practice at a higher level until –ten years hence - we may once again re-evaluate what we know.

Our ultimate aim is to offer even more effective services to families entangled in the most poignant

and painful situations that separation and divorce evoke.

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 58 No. 2, April 2020 263–264

© 2020 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts