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Parents are also viewed from a broader lens as
Meeting With Children challenges Practitioners to use
more than words with their adult clients. Just as
children make use of projective activities, so can the
adults. The power of pictures, symbols and metaphors
for adults assists with calming, and organizing dis-
regulated parent(s). It allows for expression of
thoughts and feelings when a person has little to no
cohesive access to such through words. When all
members of a family are able to use such strategies,
they may quickly speak to one another in powerful
ways and share things with each other that would
otherwise be impossible to share in words. In this
sense, Meeting With Children emphasizes each
member of the family as important and worthy of a
voice. Not simply a set of compartmentalized voices,
rather an integrated collection of voices. Although the
family will not continue to live together, being
members of a group will continue. If an experience of
hearing each other’s voices together (yes in the same
room) is possible, then why should we not all aim to
support family members to this end?

Meeting With Children provides the ADR Practitioner
practical tools to use when working with families
along the conflict continuum. It offers structure and
guidelines and answers the important question “Yes
we know we should meet with children…but how?”

Many parents and children have informed this book
and it is with gratitude that we look to them as they
have helped to increase our knowledge about how to
help other families and, particularly children, be heard
(and seen) post separation and divorce.