Center for Family Resolution outlines empathy-first response to parenting time resistance

The Center for Family Resolution is promoting a three-step, empathy-first approach for court-involved parents when children resist ordered parenting time. Founder Amy Armstrong says the goal is to protect safety, reduce loyalty conflicts and build resilience without escalating family court conflict.

Why it matters: - Parenting-time resistance can quickly spill into schools, therapy offices and pediatric care, turning a family conflict into a broader child-welfare and mental-health issue. - The approach aims to help children tolerate hard transitions without teaching avoidance or putting them in the middle of adult conflict. - The framework is designed for high-conflict cases where parents need a practical response that still honors court-ordered parenting time when safety allows.

What happened: - The Center for Family Resolution announced an empathy-first parenting time approach for parents in high-conflict family court cases. - Founder Amy Armstrong presented the three-part framework during a recent appearance on Parenting Shrink Wrapped, hosted by Dr. Melissa Wellner and Samantha Straub. - Armstrong has worked with parents since 1996 and has focused on complex, high-conflict co-parenting for the past 15 years.

The details: - The first step is to determine whether a child’s refusal reflects real emotional or physical safety concerns. - When genuine safety concerns exist, those concerns come first. - When parenting time is safe enough to proceed, parents are urged to respond in ways that build resilience instead of avoidance. - The empathy-first approach starts by acknowledging the child’s feelings without removing the expectation that parenting time will happen. - Parents then offer limited choices inside the situation, such as what to bring, what activity to do or one way to make the visit easier. - Armstrong said the goal is not just getting through one exchange, but helping children learn they can handle hard experiences without being rescued. - Armstrong said parents need support for their own discomfort, but should not seek comfort from the child. - Wellner linked the method to therapy exposures and said “experiment” is the word she uses in clinical practice. - Straub said the three steps are simple enough to remember in high-stress moments. - At The Center for Family Resolution, Armstrong works as a neutral co-parenting coach and helps both parents build their own capacity rather than trying to change each other. - Armstrong’s work focuses on identifying stress responses and triggers, reducing loyalty binds and protecting children from adult conflict. - Armstrong encourages the preferred parent to seek support, follow court-ordered parenting time when it is safe and avoid making children responsible for protecting either adult.

Between the lines: - The message is as much about regulating parents as it is about managing children. - Armstrong is framing resistance as a systems problem, not a single-child behavior problem. - The approach also pushes back on the instinct to use legal action, persuasive messages or repeated negotiations as the first response. - Armstrong said parents often spend their energy trying to change the other parent and lose sight of the one person they can lead: themselves.

What's next: - Parents seeking the full approach can learn more at The Center for Family Resolution. - Armstrong continues to work as a parenting coordinator, mediator, coach and educator in complex cases across multiple states. - She also trains family court judges nationally and serves on court-reform committees for the Supreme Court of Ohio. - Armstrong’s message is being carried beyond the courtroom through her TEDx talk and media appearances.

The bottom line: - Armstrong’s core argument is that children should not have to wait for two healthier parents before they can experience one.