Health Sciences

Children in Focus

Researchers: Associate Professor Lawrie Moloney, Associate Professor Jennifer McIntosh (Ajunct), and Dr Tom Fisher

Research Partners: Children-in-Focus team, Australian Institute for Primary Care

Funding: Commonwealth Attorney General's Department

Summary

Counsellors and mediators advising separating couples around Australia are now being encouraged to take a radically different approach to safeguarding the welfare of children in dispute. This new direction has evolved out of a $350,000 project, the first phase of which was completed late in 2002 for the Federal Attorney-General's Department. The primary aim of the project was to design and promote ways to help professionals work more effectively with separating couples in high conflict over their children. The reason this was felt to be so important is the increasingly clear evidence on the many negative impacts of ongoing unresolved parental conflict on children.

Associate Professor Lawrie Moloney (Director of the School of PUblic Health's Department of Counselling and Psychological Health) and two colleagues (Dr Jenn McIntosh, Developmental Psychologist; and Dr Tom Fisher, La Trobe Law) designed the Children in Focus program to assist dispute resolution practitioners, counsellors, therapists, and other professionals who work with separating families. Children in Focus began with an in depth analysis of research on the impact of entrenched conflict on children and an evaluation of key psycho-educational programs in Australia and overseas designed to modify this impact. The documents that were produced in this phase of the program are available (see http://www.childreninfocus.org for a description).

The program, consisting of a one-day seminar, a one-day workshop and a two-day intensive on child inclusive practice, was delivered in all states of Australia during 2002. It raised awareness of the centrality of children in family disputes (however a small part, from an adult perspective, they may appear to play) and described and promoted pathways for achieving child-sensitive outcomes. It provided multiple levels of input and skill development around child-focused and child inclusive practice in parental separation, particularly exploring Family Law related implications for supportive yet directive practice in mediation, conciliation and counseling.

In April 2003, Lawrie Moloney edited the first of a two part Children in Focus volume of the Journal of Family Studies in which papers that grew out of the program were published. This edition of the journal contains articles on the relevance of focusing on children, on pathways towards enduring adult conflict, on interventions with parents in enduring disputes, and on the impact of enduring disputes on child development. It also contains an article on developing Government policy on family dispute resolution strategies and an article on children in the 'shadow of the law'. The second part of this volume will be published in October 2003.

The Commonwealth Attorney General's Department has formally awarded $290,000 for child inclusive practice research, and also $105,000 for an extension to the Children in Focus project.

Details of the further extension of the Children in Focus program are available on the above website. Details of other products from the program, including video material is also available from the website http://www.childreninfocus.org.

In 2003, Lawrie Moloney took over as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Family Studies. He relaunched the journal with a new focus on families in transition, especially as this affects the health and wellbeing of children.

 

Status of the project: Completed

Research Outputs to date:

Conference Presentations

Publications

Unpublished Reports

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