This topic of this reaction paper is "Role of Marriage and Family Therapists in Helping Clients with Divorce and the Legal Proceedings," based on the discussion in the book, Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues in the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy, by Samuel T. Gladding, Theodore P. Remly, Jr., and Charles H. Huber (2001). Apart from understanding the legal processes involved in divorce situations, marriage and family therapists will also have to determine their specific roles and functions in individual situations. Because divorces affect not only the well-being of their clients, but also the spouses and their children, therapists have to be able to provide the appropriate intervention and act on behalf of their clients in a circumspect fashion. Essentially, the ultimate interests of the clients, along with their family, must be considered.
From my perspective as a first-year marriage and family therapy student, the issue of divorce and the impact of legal proceedings on divorced couples pose a significant challenge. First, I am uncertain about how marriage and family therapists can counterbalance the adversarial nature of legal proceedings in the case of couples who want to have an amicable divorce. Although Gladding et al. (2001) discussed briefly about the dilemmas faced by such couples who are forced to regard one another as adversaries in the legal process, the authors do not provide suggestions on how marriage and family therapists can help couples overcome these pressures (pp. 182-3). In reading this passage, I feel helpless because it appears as though marriage and family therapists are almost disempowered by the legal process because their work in helping couples to relate to one another in a cooperative fashion is essentially eradicated by the legal conflicts promoted by attorneys and the legal system.
Moreover, I am also disturbed by how in-court proceedings wrest the decision-making powers...