BULDING FAMILY

BRIDGES
A Workshop for Troubled and Alienated
Parent-Child Relationships

Building Family Bridges™ workshops are still offered during the

Covid-19 pandemic. We comply with CDC guidelines for social
distancing, PPEs, hand sanitizers and local testing to assure our
clients can participate in a safe manner.
 Building Family Bridges™
The original reuni cation program — and the
gold standard —
for alienated children and adolescents, and
recovered abducted children.

This four-day workshop helps children

reunify with a parent they claim to 
hate or fear. Building Family Bridges™
offers an opportunity for participants Building Family
to begin restoring a positive Bridges™ is the
relationship in a relaxed setting with
rst specialized
engaging videos and other material.
program for
The workshop’s primary goals are
alienated children,
twofold:
offered since 1991.
To help children adjust to the
Only professionals
transition of living with a parent
from whom they are alienated trained and
while the children’s contact with approved by
their other parent is suspended
Building Family
by the court for an extended
period of time. Bridges may
To improve the quality of the describe their
parent–child relationship.
services as Family
Building Family Bridges helps Bridges, or offer a
children who resist living with a
Building Family
parent, or hold unrealistic negative
Bridges workshop.
attitudes toward a parent. Many of
these children are caught in the middle The only authorized
of their parents’ con icts. Some have Building Family
been abducted by a parent and, when
Bridges workshops
recovered, are returned to the other
parent and cannot have contact for a are those arranged
period of time with the parent who through our
abducted them. Family Bridges has
af liates and us.
ful lled one aim if, by the end of the
workshop, the children are ready to
It has come to our
return home with the rejected parent
who has been awarded custody. attention that some
people we have not
Building Family Bridges jump-starts the
recovery of a positive parent–child trained are
relationship and teaches better describing their
communication and con ict
services as Family
management skills. The workshop also
teaches children how to think critically; Bridges or related
how to maintain balanced, realistic, and to Building Family
compassionate views of both parents;
Bridges. These
and how to resist outside pressures that
can lead them to act against their services do not
judgment. follow the Building
Family Bridges
Children who reject a parent after
divorce, who refuse or resist contact protocol that has
with a parent, or treat a parent with demonstrated its
contempt, represent one of the greatest
effectiveness and
challenges facing courts, divorced
families, and the professionals who earned the respect
serve them. Family Bridges helps of the family law
families whom courts and therapists
community.
thought were beyond help.
HOME ABOUT WORKSHOP  FOR PROFESSIONALS  FOR CHILDREN

Family Bridges Program

Enrollment Criteria

We help families adjusting to court orders that

place the child in the sole custody of the rejected
parent and suspend contact between the child and
the other parent until specifed conditions are met.
Family Bridges is offered to a family in which a
The Family Bridges
child’s view of a parent and other relatives is
is offered to
unrealistic, the child refuses contact with a parent families when:
or shows extreme reluctance to spend time with
a child’s view of a parent
that parent, and the family needs help adjusting
and other relatives is
to court orders that place the child in the sole unrealistic
custody of the rejected parent and suspend
the child refuses contact
contact between the child and the other parent
with a parent or shows
until speci ed conditions are met. extreme reluctance to
spend time with that
Courts make such orders in cases where the parent
evidence demonstrates that the rejected parent is
the family needs help
better suited to meet the child’s needs, the child’s adjusting to court orders
contact with the other parent will make it more that place the child in the
dif cult for the child to repair the damaged sole custody of the
rejected parent and
relationship, or the court determines that the
suspend contact
parent with whom the child feels aligned will not between the child and
provide adequate care for the child. the other parent until
specifed conditions are
Family Bridges may also be appropriate to met
consider in situations where a child’s relationship
with a parent is damaged to a less severe degree, the child’s negative
attitudes and behavior
but the child’s negative attitudes and behavior
toward the parent are not
toward the parent are not a reasonable and a reasonable and
proportionate response to that parent’s behavior proportionate response
toward the child. Some adult children who are to that parent’s behavior
toward the child
alienated from a parent participate in a Family
Bridges workshop.
 HOME ABOUT WORKSHOP  FOR PROFESSIONALS  FOR CHILDREN

Family Bridges Program Goals

The two primary goals of Family Bridges
are: The goals of the
Families Bridges
program are:
To help children adjust to the transition of
strengthen the
living with a parent from whom they are
family’s ability to
alienated while the children’s contact with communicate
their other parent is suspended by the court effectively with each
for an extended period of time. other and to manage
con icts in a
To improve the quality of the parent–child
productive manner
relationship.
repair and
strengthen the
To ful ll these primary goals, the Family
children’s ability to
Bridges Program works to:
maintain healthy
relationships with
 Facilitate, repair, and strengthen the both parents

children’s ability to maintain healthy help children avoid

relationships with both parents being caught in the
middle of their
 Help children do what they can to avoid parents’
being in the middle of their parents’ con icts con icts

 Strengthen children’s critical thinking skills help children

develop a more
 Protect children from unreasonably rejecting realistic perspective
a parent in the future of each parent as
well as themselves
 Help children maintain balanced views and a
more realistic perspective of each parent as
well as themselves

 Help family members develop

compassionate views of each other’s actions
 rather than excessively harsh or critical
views

 Strengthen the family’s ability to

communicate effectively with each other and
to manage con icts in a productive manner

 Strengthen the parents’ skills in nurturing

their children by setting and enforcing
appropriate limits and avoiding
psychologically intrusive interactions

What Judges, Parents, and Children Say About Building

Family Bridges™

“ T h e c h i l d re n ʼ s l a w y e r s a i d i n co u r t t h a t s h e s e e s n o m o re s i g n s
o f d e p re ss i o n a n d s a d n e ss i n m y s o n , a n d t h a t t h e re h a s s e e n a
1 8 0 d e g re e s h i f t i n t h e c h i l d re n ʼ s a t t i t u d e s to w a rd s m o s t t h i n g s .
B o t h c h i l d re n a re n o w s a y i n g k i n d t h i n g s a b o u t m e . L i f e f e e l s s o
g o o d a n d n o r m a l r i g h t n o w, t h a t a t t i m e s I ca n a l m o s t f o rg e t t h e
h o r ro rs t h a t w e a l l h a d to e n d u re .”

f o r m e r l y a l i e n a te d m o t h e r o f t w o te e n s