Clinical Template

Child & Family Therapy Note Template and Examples

Last updated: October 2, 2026

Reviewed by the WellNotes Clinical Team

Type or dictate your session observations. Get a complete child and family therapy note, capturing presenting concerns, session content, family dynamics, and interventions, in minutes.

What is a Child & Family Therapy Note template?

A child and family therapy note template records the presenting concerns from the child and caregivers, what happened in session, family dynamics observed, the interventions used and the plan. Note who attended, which parts were with the child alone, caregiver involvement, and any coordination with schools or other providers that the caregiver has consented to.

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What are Child & Family Therapy Notes?

Child and family therapy documentation requires capturing unique clinical elements not found in standard adult therapy notes. Clinicians must document developmental observations, parent-child interactions, play therapy content, behavioral patterns across settings, and the complex dynamics of working with multiple family members simultaneously.

The child-family therapy note format includes five sections that address the specific needs of this population: presenting concerns (often reported by caregivers), session content (including play themes and behavioral observations), family dynamics (interaction patterns and systemic factors), interventions (age-appropriate therapeutic techniques), and the treatment plan moving forward.

This template is essential for child therapists, play therapists, BCBAs working on behavioral goals, RBTs documenting skill acquisition, and school psychologists. Proper documentation of child and family work is critical for treatment coordination across systems: schools, pediatricians, family courts, and child welfare agencies often request clinical records.

Child & Family Therapy Note Template Structure

Use these 5 headings, in this order, for every child & family therapy note. Each card explains what belongs in the section.

Presenting Concerns

The primary concerns bringing the child/family to the session: behavioral issues, developmental concerns, family stressors, school difficulties, or trauma symptoms as reported by caregivers and observed clinically.

Session Content

What occurred during the session: play themes, verbal exchanges, behavioral observations, activities completed, and the child's engagement level and emotional presentation.

Family Dynamics

Observed and reported family interaction patterns: attachment behaviors, communication styles, parenting approaches, sibling relationships, and systemic factors affecting the child.

Interventions

Age-appropriate therapeutic techniques used: play therapy directives, behavioral strategies, parent coaching, psychoeducation, and family systems interventions.

Plan

Next steps: homework for the family, parent coaching goals, school coordination needs, referrals, and focus for the next session.

Child & Family Therapy Note Examples

3 filled examples for different sessions, written in the template above.

All examples are fictional and de-identified. They show structure and level of detail, not clinical advice for a real client.

Child & Family Therapy Note Example 1: Play therapy during a parent's deployment

7-year-old client in play therapy with a 10-minute caregiver consultation.

Presenting Concerns: Mother reports 7-year-old client J. (he/him) has been exhibiting increased aggression at school over the past month: 3 incidents of hitting peers and 2 instances of throwing classroom materials. School has requested behavioral intervention plan. Mother also reports bedwetting has returned after being dry for 2 years. Father recently deployed overseas (military) 6 weeks ago. Mother reports feeling overwhelmed managing J. and younger sibling (age 3) alone. J. states he "doesn't know" why he gets angry at school but says he "misses Daddy."
Session Content: Individual play therapy session (45 minutes) with parent consultation (10 minutes). J. initially reluctant to engage: sat with arms crossed for first 5 minutes. Chose sandbox play, created scenarios of a "soldier" figure being far away from a "kid" figure. Repeatedly buried the soldier figure and then "rescued" it. Play themes: separation, loss, rescue, and helplessness. Verbal content during play: "The kid is mad because the soldier left" and "nobody asked the kid if it was okay." Affect shifted from guarded to openly sad during play. Demonstrated age-appropriate imagination and symbolic thinking. No aggressive behavior during session.
Family Dynamics: Mother-child attachment appears secure; J. sought proximity with mother at session start and end. Mother demonstrates warmth but reports feeling depleted and less patient since father's deployment. Reports raising voice more frequently and inconsistent bedtime routine. Extended family support is limited (maternal grandparents live out of state). Father video-calls 2x/week but connection is inconsistent due to deployment location. Younger sibling competing for mother's attention; J. reports "Mom only cares about the baby." Family system is adjusting to father's absence with visible stress across subsystems.
Interventions: 1. Non-directive play therapy: Provided emotionally safe space for J. to express deployment-related feelings through symbolic play. Reflected feelings ("The kid seems really angry and sad that the soldier went away"). 2. Therapeutic storytelling: Introduced narrative about a bear cub whose parent goes on a long trip and explored feelings of anger, sadness, and missing. 3. Feelings identification: Used feelings chart to help J. label emotions beyond "mad" and identified sad, scared, and lonely. 4. Parent consultation: Psychoeducation on regression behaviors (bedwetting) as stress response. Discussed predictable routine strategies. Recommended daily 15-minute "special time" with J. without sibling present.
Plan: 1. Continue weekly play therapy sessions and monitor play themes for trauma indicators. 2. Mother to implement daily 15-minute "special time" with J. 3. Create deployment countdown calendar for J.'s room. 4. Coordinate with school counselor regarding behavioral plan (send release of information for mother to sign). 5. Introduce anger management skills (turtle technique) next session. 6. Consider family session via video with father if connection permits. 7. Reassess bedwetting: if persisting beyond 4 weeks, recommend pediatric consultation. Next session: 1 week.

Child & Family Therapy Note Example 2: Childhood anxiety (separation)

9-year-old client and caregiver, session 4 of CBT for separation anxiety.

Presenting Concerns: Caregiver reports client stayed at a friend's house for 1 hour without calling home, a first. Still asks to sleep in the caregiver's bed 4 nights a week. Client says she worries "something bad will happen to mom."
Session Content: 50-minute session: 30 minutes with client alone, 20 minutes with caregiver. Client drew her "worry monster" and practiced talking back to it. Reviewed the bravery ladder and rated the next step (sleeping in own bed with door open) as 6/10 scary.
Family Dynamics: Caregiver is warm and motivated but reports giving in to bedtime requests when tired. Client looked to caregiver for reassurance several times when caregiver joined.
Interventions: 1. Externalizing the worry with drawing. 2. Coping self-talk practice. 3. Coached caregiver on brief, calm reassurance and on praising brave behavior. 4. Set up a sticker chart for nights in own bed.
Plan: Continue weekly sessions. Bedtime goal: own bed with door open 3 nights this week. Caregiver to use the agreed one-sentence reassurance and record nights on the chart. Review chart next session.

Child & Family Therapy Note Example 3: Toddler tantrums (caregiver coaching)

3-year-old client and caregiver in a parent-child interaction focused session.

Presenting Concerns: Caregiver reports 3 to 4 tantrums a day, mostly at bedtime and when leaving the park, lasting up to 15 minutes. No aggression toward others. Daycare reports no similar concerns.
Session Content: 50-minute session with child and caregiver together. 10-minute check-in, then 30 minutes of coached play, then planning for bedtime.
Family Dynamics: Caregiver is attentive and affectionate. When the child protested cleanup, the caregiver repeated the instruction several times and then did the cleanup herself. Child calmed quickly once given a two-choice prompt.
Interventions: 1. Coached caregiver on labeled praise and reflecting the child's play. 2. Modeled a two-choice prompt and a 5-minute warning before transitions. 3. Planned a picture-based bedtime routine.
Plan: Weekly sessions. Caregiver to do 5 minutes of special play daily and use the bedtime picture routine. Track tantrum frequency and length on a simple log. Review log next week.

How to Write a Child & Family Therapy Note

Presenting concerns. Record the reason for the session from each informant (child, caregivers, school reports) and changes since the last visit.
Session content. Note who attended, time with the child alone versus with caregivers, activities and key themes.
Family dynamics. Describe observed interactions, attachment behaviors and caregiver responses, in behavioral terms.
Interventions and plan. List the techniques used with the child and the coaching given to caregivers, then set home practice and next steps.

Common Child & Family Therapy Note Mistakes

Not recording who was present, which matters for billing and for confidentiality questions later.
Writing interpretations of a child's play as fact rather than as a clinical hypothesis.
Sharing information with schools without documenting caregiver consent.

How It Works

Three steps to a finished child & family therapy note

Describe the Session

Type or dictate what happened: play themes, behavioral observations, parent interactions, interventions used. No special formatting needed.

WellNotes Structures Your Note

Your observations are organized into proper sections: presenting concerns, session content, family dynamics, interventions, and plan.

Review, Edit, and Sign

Read through the note, make any edits, then export as PDF or copy to your EHR. Done.

Documentation Before & After WellNotes

Before WellNotes

You just finished a play therapy session full of rich clinical material: play themes, behavioral observations, and family dynamics. Now you need to translate all of that into a structured note while it's still fresh.

After WellNotes

Session ends. You dictate your observations. A complete child and family note appears: play content documented, family dynamics captured, interventions recorded, ready to sign.

From 25+ minutes to under 5

Who Uses Child & Family Therapy Notes?

Child TherapistsPlay TherapistsBCBAsRBTsSchool Psychologists

Child & Family Therapy Note FAQ

What should child therapy notes include?

Child therapy notes should document presenting concerns (often reported by caregivers), session content (including play themes and behavioral observations), family dynamics, age-appropriate interventions used, and the treatment plan. Notes should also capture developmental observations and how the child's presentation relates to treatment goals.

How do you document play therapy sessions?

Play therapy documentation should include the play themes observed (separation, control, aggression, nurturing), the child's emotional expression during play, any symbolic content and its clinical significance, the therapist's reflections and interventions, and behavioral observations throughout the session. WellNotes helps structure these observations into a comprehensive note.

Do I need separate notes for parent consultation?

Best practice is to document parent consultation within the same session note, typically in the interventions and plan sections. If the parent consultation is a separate billable session, it should have its own note. WellNotes captures both child session content and parent consultation within a single structured note.

What documentation do BCBAs need for child clients?

BCBAs require detailed documentation of target behaviors, antecedent conditions, interventions (ABA techniques), behavioral responses with data, and treatment plan updates. WellNotes helps structure these observations into organized documentation. Check current BACB and payer requirements for what your notes must include.

How do I coordinate documentation with schools?

With proper releases of information, clinical notes can be shared with school counselors and IEP teams. WellNotes generates well-organized notes that communicate clinical findings clearly to other professionals involved in the child's care, supporting coordination across systems.

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