Although ultimately recovery from anorexia nervosa must be the child or adolescent’s goal, most patients with anorexia nervosa initiate treatment following pressure by family members or care providers. This often results in avoidance of treatment goals and creating an obstacle to therapeutic engagement, which can endanger those who might otherwise have a reasonable prognosis of recovery. Coercive treatment might play a vital, life-saving role for these patients. At this CCB, child and adolescent psychiatrists learn to better recognize when the clinical safety considerations of an individual require increasing levels of coercive treatment, as well as when issues of capacity to make treatment decisions may require a range of treatment options from voluntary to coercive to compulsory. The role of the parents in the treatment process is described, including situations where parents do not consent to medically necessary care and do not cooperate with treatment.