We pay and we hear nothing about the content. What exactly are we paying for?

For the effect, not for the access. You will hear what is being worked on and how it is progressing — in the joint conversations, together with your child. What you will not receive are records of what your child has confided to us.

That is not an obstruction, it is the condition for anything happening at all. A sixteen year old who expects the matter to be discussed at home that evening will not tell us the thing that matters. Then you would be paying for a conversation about sail trim.