Family Court–university Partnership to Benefit Divorcing Families: The Experience of Maricopa County (Arizona) Family Court Department and Arizona State University's Prevention Research Center*

Abstract

Using evidence‐based methods to help divorcing families requires the combined best efforts of legal professionals, courts, judges and administrators, mental health oriented service providers, and university researchers. Collaborative program development, implementation, and evaluation involve a complicated process of negotiation between professionals, yet this process is hardly ever described. The current article describes the processes we underwent in forging an alliance of researchers from Arizona State University's Prevention Research Center with professionals from the Maricopa County (Arizona) Family Court, a collaboration that involved a true dialogue and cooperation from the earliest stages and continuing throughout the project. A Community‐Based Participatory Research model was the underlying basis for our partnership; its lynchpin device was a Joint Planning Committee.

The Development, Evaluation, and Implementation of Parenting‐Focused Prevention Programs in Collaboration with Family Court

“…In the development of the FTG, the family court played a central role in all stages of the process, from developing the program, completing the randomized comparative effectiveness trial, and disseminating the results of the collaborative project in a journal article (i.e., Hita, Braver, Sandler, Knox, & Strehle, 2009). The development of the program was one of collaboration and cooperation of all involved, a process that was rooted in the principles of Community‐Based Participatory Research (see Hita et al, 2009 for a full description of the process).…”

A Randomized Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Two Court‐Connected Programs for High‐Conflict Families

“…Judges in the court with whom we partnered, the Superior Court of Arizona Family Court (Sandler et al, 2012;Hita et al, 2009), had for years been regularly mandating the enrollment of families deemed high-conflict to a program called the Parent Conflict Resolution program (PCR), described below (see also Neff & Cooper, 2004). The PCR had high levels of consumer satisfaction, but had never undergone a formal evaluation including a control group to assess its effects on children or legal conflict.…”

“…The point of departure for the current project was a conjunction between the court's interest in families who were experiencing very high levels of legal conflict and the interests of psychologists and researchers in preventing the mental health problems to the parents and children that result from being exposed to high interpersonal conflict following divorce or separation (Hita, Braver, Sandler, Knox, & Strehle, 2009;Sandler, Knox, & Braver, 2012). The interests of the court were primarily in developing an efficient program or system to reduce the legal conflict and thus reduce the burden these parents presented to the court.…”

The New Beginnings Program for Divorcing and Separating Families: Moving From Efficacy to Effectiveness

“…This strategy involves collaborating with key community stakeholders and the provider institution at the early stages of program development. The article by Hita et al (2009) in this volume illustrates this approach. Elsewhere, we described how these two approaches are integrated within a Prevention Service Development Model (Sandler, Ostrom, Bitner, Ayers, & Wolchik, 2005 For the last 20 years, her research has focused on at-risk children and their families.…”