In each of the six sessions shown the probation officer tries to encourage communication between family members present and the troubled boys or girls by asking the participants to face each other when talking or by having the families engage in role-play situations. One probation officer handling a case involving a boy with drug problems has the youth position each family member in a pose that reflects his view of family relationships. The exercise reveals the boy's isolation from the family and his father's absence from the scene. Another counselor tries to show the divorced mother of two feuding boys that she favors one boy because he resembles the father and that she is preventing the boys from resolving their conflicts by interjecting herself into their fights. In other cases involving runaways, probation officers try to understand and reveal youths' motivations for delinquent behavior (parents' rigidity, an absent father), encourage further sessions or participation by an absent parent, or learn what family members expect of the sessions.