FAQs
Can the IFT program be completed on a voluntary basis or by court appointment only?
Typically, our team seeks an appointment order from the Judge for the IFT program. However, we have received private inquiries and welcome those families seeking to prevent increased conflict and wish to stabilize their family prior to further litigation.
Does IFT include the entire family?
The IFT program seeks to include all family members to stabilize the family. We do not require “no contact” orders with an aligned parent, as we do believe it is in the best interests of the child(ren) to be involved with both parents when the Court has ordered a parenting schedule that includes both parents. Should the Court on its own decide that on a temporary basis, an aligned parent should not have contact, the IFT team requests permission to include the parent in the IFT process on the condition that the parent will be supportive of the program goals. In such situations, we envision the parent not having unsupervised contact outside of the IFT process (per the Court’s orders) but participating in an effort to re-integrate the aligned parent into the family dynamics in a healthy way. Certainly, following the process, the case manager can advise the Court as to whether the aligned parent cooperated and if it might be possible to proceed with re-integrating the aligned parent post-intensive, into the family dynamic. The case manager can also provide recommendations as to particular conditions of that contact for the Court to consider.
Does IFT need to be ordered by the judge in addition to the appointment of a Therapeutic Interventionist (TI)?
This depends on the needs of the family. Generally speaking, the IFT program takes the place of a TI appointment or sometimes follows the TI process if TI was unsuccessful in some way or there were additional needs of the family. You may wish to discuss issues such as this with attorneys or address the possibility of the IFT program within the Court.
What is needed for a family to participate in IFT?
If you wish for your family to participate in IFT and you and the other parent in your case have attorneys, you can have your attorneys contact our office. You can also request with the Court that IFT be appointed and we will begin our process. At the start of our process, we request consent forms and background documents be submitted to our office. Once documents are received in our office, we may request additional records or collateral phone calls with other providers who may have been involved with your family. Our IFT team would schedule intake appointments with both parents and the children, all done separately. After intake appointments are completed, a preliminary report with treatment goals that have been identified are submitted to the Court and parties or their counsel. After treatment goals are identified, in some cases, individual therapy sessions prior to the intensive week are requested to help prepare some or all family members for the intensive family transformation week. Finally, the parents are offered 2 separate weeks for possible scheduling of the IFT program week and one week is chosen with which the family participates in the IFT program for about 3-4 hours each day for 1-2 weeks depending on the treatment needs of the family.Following the IFT program, a final report is submitted to the Court with an update on progress and an outline of continued needs for treatment.
What is the retainer and approximate costs for IFT?
The retainer for the IFT program is $15,000. The flat fee is created with an expectation that both parents and the children will be cooperative with the reunification process. If at any time, the case manager identifies that the intensive is not likely to be successful due to a lack of cooperation by a party, the case manager might recommend termination of the intensive and recommend alternative interventions. If such occurs, the family will be charged for all services billed to that point on an hourly basis ($300/hour), but charges will not exceed the anticipated $15,000.
The flat fee also does not include any additional pre-intensive therapy appointments should the family require therapeutic work to prepare them for a successful intervention. This is billed at the provider’s regular hourly rate.
Are additional family members included in IFT, such as new spouses, step-children, adult children?
Our IFT team recognizes the changing dynamics of families post-separation or divorce and as needed additional family members are included in treatment sessions. This can facilitate boundaries and stabilization within the co-parenting dynamics as well as adjustment periods as families expand.
Can our family participate by video remotely (i.e., telepsychology) from other states or jurisdictions?
Some of our providers are credentialed with PSYPACT, an interjurisdictional agreement with participating states. This enables us to conduct some of the pre-intensive work via telephone or video; however, the intensive week is intended for in-person session due to the dynamic nature of the sessions.
Is there a scientific basis for court-ordered reunification therapies?
A legal process is not the same as empirically supported interventions. These processes are generally created to effect compliance with a Court ordered schedule. The particular process is simply an indicator as to the applied overall method, and is in itself, not necessarily empirically supported. For example, a Therapeutic Interventionist focuses on therapeutic tools, a COBI focuses on behavioral tools and the IFT focuses on the use of mental health professional tools in a more intensive way. For more information, please download our information sheet on the psychological techniques used in reunification processes.
What else can I expect before, during, and after the intensive week?
Please download our information and welcome letter here.
