The sobering fact of family law is that to be in the business of orchestrating

168
Part III
Topics in Separation, Visitation, and Reunification
Some children become the emotional props of their distressed parents,
but are unable to express, or attend [to], their own needs. This parentifica-
tion of children may interfere with separation–individuation develop-
mental tasks, and has the potential of causing significant psychological
damage.
It is tragically the case that these three possibilities—separation anxiety,
psychiatric illness, and role reversal—are not at all mutually exclusive.