An interdisciplinary and international association of professionals dedicated to improving the lives of children and families through the resolution of family conﬂict.

Center for Excellence in Family Court Practice

Initiatives informing the work of practitioners

The AFCC Center for Excellence in Family Court Practice is home to initiatives undertaken by task forces and collaborative endeavors. These interdisciplinary initiatives include practice guidelines and model standards, consulting and inter-organizational collaborations that address research, practice and policy related to family courts, family law and dispute resolution.

CEFCP initiatives focus on the challenges and controversies that family court practitioners and policymakers must address, providing the latest research, ideas and practices from the leading professionals in the field.

Learn more about each project by clicking the links below

The Future of Court ADR: Mediation and Beyond

In collaboration with Marquette University Law School Dispute Resolution Program and Resolutions Systems Institute

AFCC, in collaboration with Marquette Law School Dispute Resolution Program and Resolution Systems Institute sponsored a two-day Symposium/Think Tank at Marquette Law School in September 2011. The goal of the conference was to bring together practitioners, policymakers and academics with backgrounds in family and civil ADR to examine ...
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Domestic Violence and Family Court Project

In collaboration with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
The Domestic Violence and Family Courts Project was co-sponsored by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and revolved around a think tank of 37 leaders in from family court, family law, domestic violence advocacy and academic communities. The think tank focused on issues of differentiation in domestic violence.
The Wingspread Conference led to a commitment of participants t...
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Family Law Education Reform Project

In collaboration with Hofstra University Center for Children, Families and the Law
The Family Law Education Reform Project (FLER) is a collaborative endeavor between AFCC and the Center for Children, Families and the Law at Hofstra Law School. The goal of FLER is to close the gap between the teaching and practice of family law. The project gathered information and ideas through a combination of a series of open meetings at AFCC annual conferences, with think tanks of invited family law professors (Hofstra ...
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Family Civil Intake Assessment Screen Project

A project with the Connecticut Judicial Branch Court Support Services Division
In the summer of 2002 AFCC was awarded a contract with the Connecticut Court Support Services Division (CSSD) Family Services Unit to develop an empirically-based screening instrument for the Family Services Unit. The project team conducted site visits; direct observation; review and assessments of services; focus groups with stakeholders; and a literature review on screening protocols. CSSD revised ...
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Child Welfare Collaborative Decision Making Network

The Child Welfare Collaborative Decision Making Network consists of leaders in the field who convene annually at AFCC conferences to address emerging issues in child welfare dispute resolution. The group first convened in 2007 at the AFCC Regional Training Conference in Columbus, Ohio and has hosted think tanks at subsequent annual conferences. In addition to addressing ongoing policy and practice concerns, think tank participants have engaged in initiatives including: (1) a survey and interviews with child protection professionals (2007);...
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Child Custody Consultant Task Force

In 2009, AFCC President Emile Kruzick established the Interdisciplinary Child Custody Consultant Task Force, to study and define the role of the mental health professional engaged as a consultant (mental health consultant) by an attorney for a litigant in a child custody dispute. The attorney engages the consultant because the attorney’s client is either going to be or has already been evaluated by a court appointed mental health professional (forensic mental health evaluator) in a case involving a litigant’s rights...
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Guidelines for Court-Involved Therapy Task Force

In 2008 AFCC President Robin Deutsch appointed the AFCC Task Force on Guidelines for Court-Involved Therapy. The Guidelines have been formulated to assist members of AFCC and others who provide treatment to court-involved children and families. The Guidelines are also intended to assist those who rely on mental health services or on the opinions of mental health professionals in promoting effective treatment and assessing the quality of treatment services. The Guidelines are also intended to assist the courts to develop clear and effective...
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Guidelines for Brief Focused Assessment Task Force

In 2007 AFCC President Hon. William Fee convened the AFCC Task Force on Brief Focused Assessment to study the issues of “limited assessment” models used in family courts. An online survey of family court practitioners revealed that these assessments are increasingly practiced in a multitude of family court settings, but lack clear definition as well as standardization of methodology and practice. From the many descriptive terms in use in different courts and communities and with appreciation of the language variations in different...
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Model Standards of Practice for Child Custody Evaluation Task Force

AFCC President Leslye Hunter appointed the Task Force on Model Standards for Child Custody Evaluation in 2004. The Task Force was charged with revising AFCC’s 1994 Model Standards. Over a two-year period the Task Force held open meetings at AFCC conferences in Nashville (2004), Seattle (2005) and Breckenridge (2005) and posted two drafts for public comment (August and December 2005). The Task Force received more than 600 comments from the public postings and the Model Standards were not without controversy. Some psychologists were concerned...
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Parenting Coordination Task Force

In 2003, AFCC President George Czutrin appointed a Task Force to develop Model Standards of Practice for Parenting Coordination following AFCC’s Task Force on Parenting Coordination that conducted research and published the 2003 Report on Parenting Coordination Implementation Issues. The Task Force determined that the Parenting Coordination process was too new to use the term “Model Standards” and developed Guidelines for Parenting Coordination. The Guidelines were approved by the AFCC Board of Directors in...
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Symposium on Standards of Practice for Family and Divorce Mediation

Convened by AFCC, the American Bar Association Family Law Section and the National Council of Dispute Resolution Organizations
AFCC, in collaboration with the American Bar Association Family Law Section and the National Council of Dispute Resolution Organizations, convened the Symposium on Standards of Practice for Family and Divorce Mediation to update existing standards developed in the mid-1980s. Between 1998 and 2000, three meetings were convened involving representatives from more than thirty ...
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Developing Nations Library Project

AFCC partnered with the Asia Foundation’s Books for Asia Program in 2006-07 to help establish collections of family law, dispute resolution, mental health and social science publications in developing nations. Five libraries were selected in the Philippines, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Mongolia. AFCC asked members who have written or edited a book to help by contributing to the project. AFCC donated a full set of its publications to each library and thirty-five members participated. Nearly 300 books were donated. The Asia Foundation...
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Educator's Guide Workgroup

In 2004, an AFCC workgroup was appointed to develop guidelines for educators on how to work with separating and divorcing parents. The workgroup examines a wide range of issues, from how to structure parent-teacher conferences to how to deal with requests for information from child custody evaluations. The workgroup published An Educator’s Guide: Interacting with Separating, Divorcing, Never-Married Parents and Their Children in 2009.
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Court Services Task Force

The AFCC Court Services Task Force was appointed by AFCC President George Czutrin in 2003 to examine the challenges faced by contemporary court service agencies and to conduct a review of initiatives and best practices in service delivery. The Task Force held an open forum at the AFCC Regional Conference in St. Louis in November 2003 and then conducted a survey of family court service agencies to assess their challenges. Survey findings were presented at AFCC’s 41st Annual Conference in San Antonio in May 2004. To highlight successes...
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