Professionals’ voices on parent-child contact problems: dealing with grey areas of intervention

The underlying dynamics of parent-child contact problems – particularly those related to contact refusal and parental alienation – are very challenging for professionals and require many resources for a more tailored evaluation and intervention response. In the field of parent-child contact or access supervision, professionals continue to struggle with how to manage and improve parent-child and family relationships. Thus, a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of these dynamics and the factors that need to be considered to ensure an effective intervention is essential. Hence, the purpose of the current study was to explore the professionals’ perceptions of intervention and their first-hand experiences with contact supervision in supervised visitation services – also referred to as The Family Meeting Point Services. Using a qualitative design, 27 professionals – psychologists, social workers, social educators – working in the context of child custody disputes participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The results revealed a relevant picture of how professionals deal with grey areas of intervention in the context of parental alienation, with two emergent nodal themes: Intervention hurdles and Intervention lines for effective change. The participants’ perspectives also prompted a hypothetical theory on four interactive core-guidelines to increase the likelihood of success in PA-related intervention processes: multiple lenses, uniqueness, professional reflexivity, and transformative intentionality. Directions for future research are presented and the pragmatic contributions of knowledge on professionals’ perspective regarding an effective intervention system are discussed.