RESUMEN
The crisis of family separation caused by Trump Administration's zero tolerance policy (ZTP) on the southern border has focused the nation's attention and provoked public uproar due to the violation of basic rights and the expected negative impact on children and parents. There is decades' worth of research documenting the damage of separating children from their parents in a wide diversity of circumstances and for a wide variety of reasons. There is also ample research evidence of the impact of any form of childhood trauma and consequent disruptions in development, cognitive impairments, and health problems through adulthood. However, there is no first-hand documentation published of how these children and families specifically experienced separation at the border and the effects it is having on them to date. The present article first provides an overview of the historical and socio-political context of family separation policies in the US, and a thorough description of how ZTP was implemented in actuality. Second, this article offers a review of the literature on the impact of family separation on children and parents in diverse contexts. Third, we describe direct clinical experiences with these children and parents receiving services at the Terra Firma program in the Bronx community in New York. Finally, this article delineates important recommendations for policy makers, service providers, and the community as a whole.
RESUMEN
Sequential analyses examined associations between the working alliance and therapist-adolescent communication patterns in 10 Spanish cases of brief conjoint family therapy. Early sessions with strong versus problematic alliances, rated by observers, were selected for coding of relational control communication patterns. No differences were found in the frequency of exchanges, but competitive responding by the therapists (reflecting an interpersonal struggle for control) was significantly more likely in problematic alliance sessions than in strong alliance sessions. Cases in which the adolescent's alliance with the therapist remained positive from Session 1 as compared with Session 3 showed a decrease in the likelihood of competitive symmetry. Notably, when the quality of the alliance deteriorated over time, the therapists were increasingly more likely to respond to the adolescents' domineering messages in a competitive manner. Results underscore the need to avoid competitive responding in order to ally with adolescents in conjoint family treatment.