Strengthening Coparenting Relationships to Improve Strained Parent–Child Relationships: A Follow‐Up Study of Parents’ Experiences of Attending the Overcoming Barriers Program

Several interventions have been developed to address children's resistance and/or refusal to have contact with a parent following separation and divorce. There remains little agreement about how best to evaluate the success of these approaches. To explore the experiences of parents in the Overcoming Barriers Program (OCB), an online survey was distributed to all previous participants. Of the 40 parents who completed the survey at least six months after attending OCB, findings suggest mixed results. Benefits of OCB were more pronounced when changes were made to the coparenting relationships. Improvements in the coparenting relationship were specifically related to children's spending more time with both parents and better parent–child outcomes postintervention. Findings suggest that both the quality of parent–child relationships and the time that the children spend with both parents are associated with reported improvements in the cooperative coparenting relationship as a result of attending OCB. Implications are discussed in terms of lessons learned for developing, delivering, and evaluating similar programs for strained parent–child relationships. Key Points for the Family Court Community The purpose of this follow‐up survey was to explore the experiences of parents who had previously participated in the Overcoming Barriers Program (OCB). Almost half of the participants stated that OCB did not meet their expectations that they had prior to attending the program. Over two thirds of the participants described improvements in their views about the importance of children having a positive relationship with both parents and their understanding about their own contributions to the strained parent–child relationships. Overall positive improvements in strained parent–child relationships were noted. Improvements in the coparenting relationship were statically related to children spending more time with both parents and better parent–child outcomes postintervention.