298 | They Promised No Court—Then Sent a Subpoena: What Now? - Court and Legal Policy in CCPT

In this episode, I respond to a question from Lujaina in Texas about what to do when you've clearly communicated that you won’t participate in court proceedings—only to be served a subpoena anyway. I walk through how to handle the ethical, professional, and relational implications when parents agree to your boundaries and then later involve you in legal matters.

I also share strategies to minimize these scenarios, including how to write clear informed consent policies, communicate expectations confidently, and navigate interactions with attorneys. If you’ve ever felt blindsided or betrayed in a contentious custody case, this episode will help you feel more prepared, more protected, and more aligned with your CCPT role and scope.

PlayTherapyNow.com is my HUB for everything I do! playtherapynow.com. Sign up for my email newsletter, stay ahead with the latest CCPT CEU courses, personalized coaching opportunities and other opportunities you need to thrive in your CCPT practice. If you click one link in these show notes, this is the one to click!

If you would like to ask me questions directly, check out www.ccptcollective.com, where I host two weekly Zoom calls filled with advanced CCPT case studies and session reviews, as well as member Q&A. You can take advantage of the two-week free trial to see if the CCPT Collective is right for you.

Ask Me Questions: Call ‪[phone]‬, or email: [e-mail]
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APT Approved Play Therapy CE courses: https://childcenteredtraining.com
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Common References:
Cochran, N., Nordling, W., & Cochran, J. (2010). Child-Centered Play Therapy (1st ed.). Wiley.
VanFleet, R., Sywulak, A. E., & Sniscak, C. C. (2010). Child-centered play therapy. Guilford Press.
Landreth, G.L. (2023). Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship (4th ed.). Routledge.
Bratton, S. C., Landreth, G. L., Kellam, T., & Blackard, S. R. (2006). Child parent relationship therapy (CPRT) treatment manual: A 10-session filial therapy model for training parents. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Benedict, Helen. Themes in Play Therapy. Used with permission to Heartland Play Therapy Institute.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks,
your source for centered and focused play therapy coaching.
Hi,
I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,
The Kid Counselor.
This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get a master class in
child-centered play therapy and practical support and application for your work.
For children and their families.
In today's episode,
we are talking through a question

(00:22):
about when we've made it clear to parents that we will not be involved in court,
and then we end up
later on in the process
being roped into legal stuff.
And this is from Lujaina in Texas,
so thank you so much for this question.
And
as much as we try to avoid going to court,

(00:43):
sometimes we can't avoid it,
but when we specifically indicate and make it very clear that
that's not our role,
that's not where we're going to be involved,
and then they try
to contrive the circumstances so that we end up there anyway
and how we handle that with parents and how that makes us feel.
And all those things.
So I really appreciate this question Louiana.

(01:05):
Thank you for emailing.
So I'm going to read parts of this and then we'll dive into the discussion.
I've been working with a seven year old
whose parents are undergoing a contentious divorce.
During the initial intake,
I informed the parents that it would be best to
refer them to a therapist with experience in this area
who is able to handle court orders,
this is as this is outside my training and the services I provide.

(01:28):
Both parents assured me that their main focus is their child and
they have no intention of involving me in their court matters.
Fast forward to a recent parent consultation,
one of the parents was asking questions about their attorney reaching out to me.
Again,
I asked if they needed a therapist who would testify in court,
reiterating that this is not a service I provide.
They reassured me this was not the case.
The following week I received a subpoena in the morning,

(01:50):
but it was withdrawn by the afternoon
because the parents had settled their issues.
End quote.
Did they really though?
This incident strained my relationship with the parents,
leading to discomfort and mistrust.
While my primary focus remains on the child's well-being,
I now feel uneasy about continuing to work with them.
My question is,
what's the best way to handle this situation?

(02:12):
I'm concerned about the ethical and practical implications
of terminating my work with this client,
and I am considering termination because I've been feeling very uncomfortable,
and my gut is uneasy after the last time I saw
one of the parents during the drop off for a session.
I'd greatly appreciate any advice you can offer.
OK.
So one of the really important pieces of this that I have learned

(02:36):
is your intake paperwork needs to have very clear
information
in your informed consent
and your policies and procedures
about what you can and cannot provide to them.
Our intake paperwork includes the role of a child-centered play therapist
with
under the umbrella of all of the other

(02:56):
people that might be involved in legal matters.
So it.
Literally defines what's the role of a guardian ad liteumm,
what's the role of a parenting coordinator,
what's the role of a reunification counselor?
What's the role of
an attorney?
What's the role of a child therapist?
What's the role of this?
So it kind of goes over all of this stuff and then we highlight.

(03:19):
Here's our role as a child-centered play therapist,
and here's what we can and cannot do
in that role.
Now,
even when you do that,
and you make parents initial that they understand that,
and they consent to it.
You might still get a subpoena.
But the goal is that you do everything you can

(03:40):
through verbal,
written,
and consent information.
That
if they have any intention of bringing you into court,
that you can refer them to a therapist
that works closely with the court as you do not.
It will not be 100%
failproof,
but it's
most of the way there.

(04:01):
So again it comes back to
making it very clear in the initial interactions,
having it in your paperwork that they sign.
And reinforcing that you are only there to advocate for the child
and the child's well-being.
Your neutrality matters,
your confidence matters.
So you have to confidently express

(04:24):
why
you are not going to testify.
Now granted,
they could force you with a subpoena,
but
I've,
I've only been subpoenaed a handful of times in 20 years
because
I'm very clear about what parents can expect from me.
And so it's about your confidence,
it's about your articulation,
it's about setting expectations early.

(04:45):
Lujaina,
it sounds like you did make it clear that you did not want to get involved in court
and that you could refer out,
but often when parents are in a contentious divorce,
when they are in the midst of legal proceedings themselves,
their attorneys push for
your involvement.
So even if they say,
well,
I don't,
I mean,
they,
you know,
the therapist said that they weren't really gonna get involved and blah, blah, blah,

(05:07):
the attorney could just say,
OK,
well,
we're going to subpoena them.
And that kind of ties the parent's hands.
So sometimes it's not that the parent
is just completely violating your request to not be subpoenaed or involved in
court proceedings.
Sometimes the attorney says,
we absolutely have to have their testimony.
So it's not always that the parent just doesn't care.

(05:28):
That's something else to keep in mind,
but
another
piece of this puzzle is
you also need to communicate with the subpoenaing attorney.
So whenever we receive a subpoena,
we don't just
immediately say,
OK,
we reach out to the subpoenaing attorney
and we say,
I'm curious what you

(05:49):
are requesting.
Sometimes it's just something as simple as how many times have you seen the child?
Sometimes it's something as simple as what was reported in intake.
Sometimes it's as simple as
how much money has been spent on your services.
You never know
what information they actually need and want for their case

(06:09):
or for the trial or the hearing or whatever it is.
So if you reach out,
you can have them specifically tell you what they need.
Now if they say we need your records,
you can say,
well,
my records are held in confidence because of confidentiality.
But I'm happy to provide a treatment summary for you.
I'm happy to provide court notes for you.
I'm specifically wondering what you need.

(06:31):
So
the conversation
is not necessarily with parents at that point,
it's with the attorney because almost always when you talk to them,
you have better insight and awareness as to what they're seeking
and therefore you can provide something that they need without having to testify.
Now,
there have been a handful of times that I have testified.

(06:52):
But that's a very different conversation.
In your context,
you're saying now,
even though the subpoena was withdrawn,
you feel uneasy and uncomfortable because you feel that there,
there was a betrayal.
So that would be something that you need to
have a discussion about in your consultation.
So I would schedule a consultation and I would sit down and I would say.

(07:15):
In the very first time that we ever met.
I discussed the fact that it's outside my scope of practice to be called into court
and that I would be happy to refer you
to another therapist that works closely closely with the court
and you said that your concern was only for your child.
I've been working with your child
and then I got a subpoena and if I'm being completely honest with you,

(07:37):
I feel like that was a betrayal of trust because
you assured me that you would not bring me into court
and then you subpoenaed me.
And so I'd like to understand what was going on,
what was the rationale,
how did that happen?
Hear their side of the story.
Because if they say,
well,
I actually told my attorney that you didn't want to be subpoenaed,
but they said too bad we're subpoenaing you anyway.

(08:00):
Then you realize that
it was really out of their hands for the most part.
If they say we really needed to hear how our child is doing,
OK,
well,
I can provide you with a treatment summary
to let you know how your child is doing.
I don't need to be subpoenaed for that.
So clear direct communication.
I mean,
I say this all the time,
but I can't overstate it.

(08:21):
Truth is kind,
clear is kind.
So you need to be truthful and you need to be clear,
and you need to say,
well,
these are my concerns.
I really would like to continue supporting your child.
I really would like to continue working with your child.
But I need to make sure that we're on the same page
and I,
and I need to know what to expect moving forward

(08:42):
and I need to know that
if you are going to end up in another court related scenario
that I'm not going to get a random subpoena that catches me off guard.
You have to be truthful and clear
and just have a very direct conversation with them
and I think if you hear their side
and you make your needs and expectations known again
with a little bit of uh.

(09:05):
I
I don't wanna say ultimatum.
That's probably not the most helpful word,
but with a very clear line of,
you know,
if you choose to involve me in court again
and this is a pattern,
unfortunately I'm going to have to refer you to another therapist and I
would really like to preserve the relationship that I've built with your child,
so I need to make sure we're all on the same page here.

(09:27):
And if they know
that if they violate or breach that trust that you're building with them again,
that you're going to refer the child to someone else,
that will be the litmus test of whether or not it's
truly about the child or whether it's truly about court.
So I think that's where this is going to land for you,
Lujaina.
I think that it's important that you have a very direct conversation.

(09:48):
And you're able to be clear
and hear their side
and then come to
Everyone's on the same page agreement.
We know what's happening moving forward.
We know what the stakes are,
we know what will happen if certain things transpire in the future.
Then there's no fear of the unknown.
I think that's what I'm hearing in your email is now there's fear of the unknown

(10:10):
and no one wants to have a therapeutic relationship like that.
We have relationships with our parents as well,
not just with our kids.
So when that has been fractured,
it's important to repair it,
and that's just a conversation at the next consult.
So I hope that that's helpful.
I know many of us have been in that kind of situation before.
I actually had

(10:30):
a parent pound on my office door when I was in the middle of a session
demanding that she meet with me
mid-session
because
she
had all of this stuff that she found out and I,
I mean,
it was like,
I,
I actually didn't feel safe.
It's one of the few times in my entire career that I was like,
I do not want to be here by myself right now.
And

(10:51):
there are moments when
parents are in such chaos,
such turmoil,
such angst.
I mean their whole lives are spiraling,
and
when you're in dysfunction and chaos,
you typically end up trying to bring other people into your dysfunction and chaos.
And so sometimes we get kind of swooped up in the middle of it
and we have to be really intentional and careful

(11:11):
with our boundaries and really clear with the expectations.
So I hope that that's helpful.
I love y'all.
Don't forget about the live event,
May 16th at 1:30,
playtherapypodcast.com/live for a 300th episode.
Please RSVP.
We'll talk again soon.
Bye.
Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr.
Brenna Hicks.

(11:32):
For more episodes and resources,
please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.