<p>A child’s social skills development is crucial, but social functioning deficits are common. Social impairment has been associated with various risk factors, including child anxiety symptoms and parenting practices, specifically among parents who experience distress. Given the impact that anxiety and parental distress have on social functioning, it is important to examine child characteristics that could mitigate the impact. Research has identified child characteristics (i.e., leadership, functional communication, adaptive skills, executive functioning, and emotional self-control) that promote social functioning and could serve as protective factors. The present study examined the protective effects of these child characteristics on the relation between parental distress and post-treatment anxiety of children who participated in the Resilience Builder Program® (RBP; Alvord et al., <CitationRef CitationID="CR3">2011</CitationRef>). The RBP is a resilience-based cognitive-behavioral group treatment for children with social impairments. A total of 76 parents completed measures before and after the RBP, providing information on parent’s self-report of psychological distress, child anxiety, and the identified child characteristics (<i>M</i>_<i>age</i> = 10.01, <i>SD</i> = 1.44; 77.6% White; 81.6% male). Moderation analyses indicated that for children with poor pre-treatment functioning in adaptive skills, functional communication, and leadership, parent psychological distress was related to increased post-treatment anxiety, whereas, for strong pre-treatment skills, a negative relation was detected. Results suggest that proficiency in adaptability, functional communication, and leadership may act as a protective factor from parental distress by promoting positive treatment outcomes. Such findings could inform future interventions where these skills are emphasized during a child’s treatment if the parent indicates high distress.</p>