Systems and methods are disclosed for providing an enhanced Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) association procedure for session restoration. In this regard, a method performed by a PFCP node comprises deleting one or more PFCP sessions of the PFCP node that are associated with a failed PFCP entity or with a failed PFCP path. The method further comprises sending, to a PFCP peer node, a node level message to request that the PFCP peer node delete a corresponding one or more PFCP sessions of the PFCP peer node that are associated with the failed PFCP entity or with the failed PFCP path, wherein the node level message comprises an indication of the corresponding one or more PFCP sessions. Some embodiments provide that the node level message comprises a PFCP Association Setup Request including sessions retention information to indicate whether to retain PFCP sessions associated with the PFCP Association Setup Request.