Task Forces and Initiatives
AFCC, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), the Werner Institute for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution at Creighton University School of Law, and the National Center for State Courts, has undertaken a project to better understand the best practices, lessons, challenges, and opportunities of child protection conflict resolution. In order to obtain data from programs across the United States and Canada, a survey of leading child welfare dispute resolution practitioners was conducted last summer and followed up by a series of intensive interviews. The survey and interview included questions regarding the basic functioning of the particular program, the factors that contribute to a successful conflict resolution, the obstacles to success, the program’s major successes and challenges, and the program’s attempts to deal with those obstacles.
The results of this effort became a working paper that informed the discussion of thirty leading practitioners who gathered for a two-day think tank on child welfare conflict resolution held in conjunction with the AFCC and NCJFCJ Regional Conference in Columbus, Ohio on September 25-26, 2007.
Summary of Think Tank III (PDF)
Decision-Making and Conflict Resolution in Child Welfare: Think Tank II Summary (PDF)
Report on Survey and Interviews Conducted in Preparation for the September Think Tank on Child Protection Conflict Resolution (PDF)
Conflict Resolution in Child Welfare: Collecting the Wisdom of 25 Years of Experience (PDF)
