Supporting Families Through Reunification: Promoting Safety and Healing in PSB Cases
November 7, 2025
By Geoff Sidoli, MSW, LCSW
Whether it’s in the initial stages of discovering children with problematic sexual behavior (PSB), or later stages involving clarification and/or reunification, promoting safety and healthy interactions is at the core of any strategy.
Reunification cases have a unique set of challenges, but when this occurs between children, we must also consider developmental, relational, and situational factors. An example of a real case with names changed to protect identities, Corey was 11 when he started sexually touching Erin, his 6-year old stepsister. When she disclosed the harmful sexual behavior to a friend at school, she thought all the “bad” stuff would stop. “I just want him to stop doing it,” Erin told the forensic interviewer at her local CAC. After the CAC visit, Corey went to stay with his biological mother. Erin loved her brother and told her therapist that he was her “favorite” sibling and that she missed him.
Corey also felt very close to Erin and loved being her big brother. Corey desperately wanted things to go back to normal and missed being a family. When Corey arrived at his intake assessment and was asked why he thought he was there, he seemed confused and said that he was not sure, but maybe to talk about getting his family back. He was asked about Erin’s allegations that he had touched her in sexual manner. “But I didn’t do it,” Corey said with a frustrated tone.
Corey’s parents were clearly conflicted. For his dad, he was the biological father of both children and felt he had to decide between which child to support. For his mother, a victim of her own sexual abuse, she felt conflicted of how to manage her love for her child and the anguish of identifying with Erin’s experience of hurt and betrayal by someone she loved. Of course, Corey’s denial of the sexual harm only muddled the situation, added to their emotional strife, and what to think.
There are no “manuals” for families to navigate something so emotionally challenging and confounding as sexual abuse, as each situation is unique. But, there is hope for these families when we take a coordinated response that supports families and gives them structure and guidance from CACs and MDT members. For Corey and Erin, this meant their team needed to meet to develop an individualized plan that identified their families’ unique needs for treatment, support, and how to promote safety moving forward.
Developing a reunification plan meant helping the family figure out how to support both children. For Corey, that meant creating accountably with him by rewarding his honesty and commitment to responsibility. At the same time, Erin’s dad was able to balance his support for her need to heal and what Corey’s role was in facilitating that.
That also meant Corey had to understand his role in healing his family while struggling with how to be trustworthy. In treatment, he came to understand that the worst thing he had ever done did not define him or his role in his family. He understood that he could have input into creating a new “normal” through his actions. He understood that being accountable did not define him as a “bad” person but showed his commitment to helping Erin and his family heal. This was reflected in their therapy sessions together and gave Erin validation and assurance in their relationship. They both had a specific role in defining their new relationship that allowed them to still feel connected and show up for the other in the way they felt loved.
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To learn more about reunification cases, and build upon your existing skills to address children with problematic sexual behaviors, you’re invited to join our upcoming webinar, PSB Safety Planning/Clarification/Reunification, on November 19, 2025 from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET.
You’ll learn how to develop strategies for creating plans that address multiple facets of a child’s life using a socio-ecological approach, outlining a major shift from holding individuals accountable to creating accountability within the child’s internal processes by balancing goals that focus on attaining healthy choices as much as or more than just avoiding bad choices.
You’ll also learn how to approach clarification and reunification practices that are centered on the impacted child’s needs while promoting and rewarding accountability with the initiating child. A phased model for reunification will provide guidance for interactions as well as pre and post work to be done by professionals and family to assure safety for everyone involved.
Cost: $149
# of CEs: 2.5 hours through NBCC
Lastly, click this link to be directed to the NCA Institute for Better Mental Health Outcomes Training Calendar for our other learning opportunities.
Geoff Sidoli is NCA Institute for Better Mental Health Outcomes’ Training Fellow. He trains CAC staff around the country to develop, implement, and sustain mental health services including an enhancement of TF-CBT for PSB. He is NCA’s TTA for PSB and facilitates NCA’s YPSB national work group. Geoff enjoys traveling, running in the mountains, and cooking.
