Programs for Mediators, Courts & Schools
Over 100 parents in a medium-sized city filing court actions for divorce or post-divorce issues involving children were court-ordered to attend a 2-hour parent education class built around the video, Children in the Middle (first edition). A 2-year follow-up showed that relitigation rates for parents in the treatment group was only 12.5% if they attended the class within three weeks of their original court filing date. For parents attending more than three weeks after filing, the relitigation rate was 60%; for a control group with contemporaneous filing dates but not attending the class, the relitigation rate was 59%. There was also evidence to suggest that parents who attended the class had fewer contacts with attorneys, spent less money on the divorce, were more encouraging for their children to love their other parent, and exposed their children to less conflict.
These results suggest the importance of mandating parents into classes very early in the divorce process before conflict and litigiousness can interfere with their willingness to communicate and cooperate.