Child and Family Therapy

Program Overview

The Doctor of Marriage and Family Therapy in Child and Family Therapy is for practitioners who treat children's difficulties where they actually live: in families. Anxiety, defiance, school problems, attachment disruption, and grief in childhood are shaped by relationships, and the most effective treatments for many childhood problems work through parents and caregivers rather than around them. Students study development first — attachment and its patterns, temperament, emotional regulation, and the stages through which children and adolescents grow — and then the treatments with the strongest evidence. Parent management training builds on Gerald Patterson's account of coercive cycles; parent-child interaction therapy coaches caregivers live through child-directed and parent-directed interaction; child-centered and filial play therapy give young children a language in play; multisystemic and functional family therapy reach adolescents whose problems involve schools, peers, and courts. Structural family therapy, Diana Baumrind's parenting styles, and Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological model frame the work, and the curriculum covers consent and assent with minors, confidentiality, collaboration with schools, and the duty to protect children from harm. The Christian tradition has always treated children as persons in their own right and parents as stewards rather than owners, a conviction that shapes both the ethics and the hope of this work. The doctoral project develops and evaluates a child and family intervention, parenting program, or school partnership in the student's setting. Graduates lead child and family programs, train parents and children's ministry staff, and supervise clinicians. The degree is academic formation and does not by itself qualify anyone for licensure.

Core Courses

• CFT 801 — Child and Adolescent Development in Family Context (6 credits)
• CFT 812 — Parent Management Training and Parent-Child Interaction (6 credits)
• CFT 824 — Play Therapy and Filial Approaches (6 credits)
• CFT 836 — Family Therapy with Adolescents (6 credits)
• CFT 848 — Assessment, Ethics, and Child Protection (5 credits)
• CFT 860 — Applied Research Design with Children and Families (4 credits)
• CFT 899 — Doctoral Project in Child and Family Therapy (24 credits)

Admission Requirements

• Master's degree in marriage and family therapy, counseling, psychology, social work, ministry, or a related field
• Experience in counseling, family ministry, chaplaincy, or human services
• Statement of purpose describing the families you serve and the question you want to pursue
• Current resume or professional profile
• Official transcripts from prior institutions when available
• Signed acknowledgment that the degree does not by itself confer a license to practise therapy in any jurisdiction