Benjamin D. Garber

High conflict divorce can leave children polarized within the transitioning family system, aligned with one parent and resisting or refusing contact with the other parent. Rather than becoming mired in the bottomless pit of back and forth blame, more and more courts are seeking remedies in the form of reunification therapy. Charged with helping the polarized child to enjoy a healthy relationship with both parents, we know what doesn't work: individual child therapy cannot remedy a family systems problem. Dyadic interventions with the child and either parent are seldom sufficient. Even family therapies fall short when they are not grounded in well-established, reliable and valid science. Mending Fences introduces a child-centered, systemically informed, empirically-validated and experientially-proven collaborative reunification protocol. Focusing on the anxiety inhibiting the system's healthy functioning, well-respected and long-validated cognitive behavioral exposure methods are fused with structural family therapy to reduce the child's anxieties about separating from one parent and approaching the other, the aligned parent's fears of separation and loss, and the rejected parent's fears of rejection. A common vocabulary across coordinated interventions allows children across the spectrum of ages and abilities to identify and overcome an individually tailored succession of anxiety-inducing events so as to gradually (re-)establish healthy and safe relationships with both parents. The Mending Fences protocol is practical, proven, and effective. Case illustrations, sample court orders and service agreements are included. The user-friendly discussion is peppered with up-to-date references to the scientific literature and international case law. Application via video conferencing platforms is discussed.

We all get angry sometimes, but out-of-control anger can make life miserable for everyone in the family, especially during a divorce, parental separation, or throughout the years of co-parenting, In Taming the Beast, Dr. Benjamin Garber shows you how to understand anger in all its forms, from irritation to frustration to rage, and express it constructively. You will learn practical strategies for modeling good anger management for your children, identifying and measuring emotions with the MadMeter(TM), planning ahead for what to do when anger erupts, and debriefing outbursts so you can do better next time. With practice, you and your kids will discover healthy ways to experience your own emotions--and accept each other's. Taming the Beast is Book 2 in the Healthy Parenting series. Book 1 in the series is The Healthy Parent's ABCs: Healthy Parenting Made Clear and Easy-to-Readand Book 2 is i>Caught in the Middle: A Letter to My Divorced Parents

This unique volume and the accompanying forms provide you with ten forensic family evaluation tools ready for immediate use. These tools have been developed by Dr. Benjamin D. Garber over the course of more than twenty years and tempered through the process of treating and evaluating hundreds of high conflict families. Ten Child-Centered Forensic Family Evaluation Tools provides the family law professional with critical means of navigating through the complex and contradictory history and reports that commonly arise in the context of custody-related litigation. These are the tools that have been missing to date, necessary if one hopes to map out the conflicted family's strengths and weaknesses, needs and wishes in an organized, systematic and reliable manner. More than just data collection, Ten Child-Centered Forensic Family Evaluation Tools anchors parent, child and third-party report in the hard data underlying psychology and family law. This volume not only makes Dr. Garber's tools available for immediate use, it provides the reader with up-to-date references to critical areas of inquiry. Responses can thus be interpreted not only by comparison among co-parents, but also by comparison between respondents and the extant literature. Use of these Ten Child-Centered Forensic Family Evaluation Tools secures evaluations in science, buttresses interpretations in empirical data, and anchors the evaluator's testimony in the contemporary literature all to the benefit of none so much as the child. Ten Child-Centered Forensic Family Evaluation Tools is structured into six broad categories. Each begins with an introduction to the general topic, includes an annotated discussion of the instrument(s) being introduced and a select list of references. The tools themselves are laid out page-by-page with critical items highlight and cross-referenced. The accompanying CD-ROM includes all ten tools ready to print and to become the foundation of the professionals' next forensic family evaluation.

The Parenting Plan Worksheet is the conscientious caregiver's only developmentally-informed means of creating a child-centered parenting plan. Sixteen discrete but interlocking modules allow parents singly or together to better understand the intricate decisions that will guide the future allocation of their parenting rights and responsibilities. This book, The Roadmap to The Parenting Plan Worksheet, is the professional's guide to using the Parenting Plan Worksheet. The Roadmap dissects the sixteen component modules of the Worksheet, presenting case law, theory and empirical discussion. Mediators, parenting coordinators, lawyers and courts use the Roadmap to guide parents through the rocky terrain that can lead to the creation of a child-centered, developmentally-informed parenting plan.

When to hold on; when to let go--a constant dilemma of parenthood. This timely book examines the balance between these powerful dynamics. How parents can instill confidence and security in children and how professionals can recognize and respond when this process goes awry. Holding too long and too tight? Letting go too soon and too easily? Includes down-to-earth descriptions of family systems and identity development and guidance on remaining an emotional anchor in children's lives as they launch toward independence. Psychologist Benjamin Garber is author of Keeping Kids Out of the Middle and Developmental Psychology for Family Law Professionals.

Laid out in twenty-six sections corresponding to the letters of the English alphabet, couples, groups or classes can move through this fun "how to" guide from one lesson to the next, one letter at a time. Caregiving environments, schools and child-centered organizations assign one letter per week to complete the alphabet in full twice each year!