HOW WE GET INVOLVED WITH COURT-MANDATED PARENTS Because of the emotional intensity and conflict that is typical of many court-mandated clients, our approach begins with the initial telephone contact. When parents are ordered to therapy to help settle custody and/or visitation issues, usually one parent calls in explaining that they have been court-ordered to therapy. When this happens, we take down some basic information and explain that we must wait for the other parent to call in before therapy can begin. If we see one parent before making contact with the other, we are likely to become part of the adversarial climate characteristic of the court. In a few cases, an attorney or guardian ad litem will refer the case directly to us. They usually want to give us background information about the family. We thank them for this input and ask that they have the family call us directly so we can tell them about our center and how we work. We also tell the referral source that therapy will begin after we hear from both parents.When the first parent calls in, they often tell us that we shouldn't expect a call from the other parent, saying, "I asked him/her to come to therapy a hundred times when we were married and he/she always refused." Sometimes we receive a court-order from a judge in the mail; the court order explains who is referred to therapy and why. It usually states that the parents are having difficulty resolving issues regarding their children. These issues include disputes about visitation, custody, and financial support. It is important to note that some families we see are in the midst of the divorce process while others have been divorced for many years. THERAPIST POSITIONING We see our role with court-ordered families as flowing from our ideas about people, therapy, and change. So, when we work on these cases, we become part of a system of people engaged in a dialogue about the well-being of a family. It is important to note that no one involved with the family denies that the best interests of children are primary. What those best interests are, however, is open to debate. Our role, as we see it, is to join with members of each system (family,