In response to Amelia's 1st post...

I did not set out to prove anything.

I terminated therapy 8 October 2013. I was in intensive therapy for 18 months. Average sessions: 2 1/2 hours, 3-5 days/week.

We discussed becoming friends at the end of therapy. This was our 5th outing since terminating. (Places - concerts, award ceremony for me, lunch, etc.) We speak on the phone ~ 9 days. I usually call her, but she has called me 1/3 of the time. When she calls we tend to speak much longer.
At least 8 of my friends have met her. Two now see her for family therapy. They are aware of our friendship.
I have been at her house. I have met her family. I meet all my friends at restaurants, coffee shops, etc. As soon as my kingager goes off to school I will use my home to entertain again. I'm tired of picking up after kiddo and telling him to do it.
I would call us close friends. I think she would too. I knew a lot of her history and am learning more about her.
I don't know if it will be a life long friendship, yet there is no indication it won't be, but there are no guarantees with any of my relationships, except family. And, she has helped me to love them dearly no matter what.

I still standby there is nothing unethical about post therapy friendships.
All the Governing Boards of all US licensed therapist removed the two year wait is necessary. Even with the two year wait it was not taboo. Please explain this to me. There are state laws against it. For me, when It comes to ethics I think of morality, and I am very conservative when it comes to morality.

I have NOT judged anyone on the forum. That stings a little coming from you, Amelia. It is a fact that many therapist think like you and others on the forum that post friendships are damaging, unethical, etc. Read old threads. I suspect it's information given to clients by therapist, and therapist learn it in school. But, is it correct? I used the word: grapple, which means come to terms with. Meaning, "I am trying to understand this thinking." This is NOT judging anyone. I respect the right of decent for each individual. I never said this is for everyone.
All anyone has is antidotal stories concerning these relationships, nothing else. Sorry about your therapist friend, and her former client. But, it sounds like she was not attuned to this client if they successfully terminated therapy. The out come could have been the same, even if he was in therapy. Bad thinks happen even when it's not therapy related.

The other stuff about other clients being friends etc, smacks of seventh grade girl and kindergarten stuff or sibling rivalry. Life is not meant to be FAIR. I use to tell my kid all the time. What I failed to do was acknowledge his feelings. Thanks to therapy I have apologized to him. If clients are still thinking like this when they and the therapist decide they have successfully completed therapy then they need to sue him/her and get all their money back! To me therapy was about maturity, learning how to deal with hurts, and to not let them knock me over. I also had to learn how to deal with the good too, but that's a different story.

I don't disagree that these relationships can go wrong. They can also GO right. You state that there are hundreds of thousands of these post therapy relationships that have gone wrong. I have not seen any studies. Please share with us what you have found that are not antidotal.
I am not telling anyone to pursue or not pursue a relationship when therapy is over with their therapist. It's their decision to make, not mine. I rarely give advice. In fact I may have given a handful of advice in all my postings on this forum.

Change in systems only happen when there are exceptions to the Rule.