New Ways for Families Program – Evaluation Report

Medicine Hat Family Services

New Ways for Families

Evaluation Report

Feb. 2012 to December 2014

Contents

1.0 Introduction/Background

2.0 Project Goals

3.0 Client Profile

4.0 Outputs

5.0 Outcomes/Results

6.0 Case Example

7.0 Client Feedback

8.0 Systems Impact

9.0 Counsellors Feedback

10.0 Program Challenges

11.0 Program Successes

12.0 Learnings

13.0 Conclusions

14.0 Appendix ...... 22

1.0 Introduction/Background

Medicine Hat Family Services is a private not-for-profit organization that provides counselling, support and education services to support and strengthen families in times of crisis, change and growth.

The New Ways for Families Programat Medicine Hat Family Services provides short term counselling for high conflict separating or divorcing parents who have ongoing parenting disputes. Differing from other parenting classes, New Ways focuses on the long term effects for children, and incorporates structure and accountability processes to better respond to high conflict circumstances in parenting disputeprocesses. Program referrals include court ordered participation by a Judge or Justice as well as out of court referrals, however only court ordered referrals have access to subsidies.

In the New Ways for Families Program, both parents are encouraged to avoid the cycles of ongoing parenting assessments and additional court applications, and instead have an opportunity to focus on making positive changes during individual counselling sessions. Close co-operation of counselling professionals, social workers, and lawyers helps parents focus on learning specific skills in short-term counselling before long-term court decisions are made. The New Ways program focuses on three fundamental problem solving skills for parents:

•flexible thinking (making realistic proposals, acknowledging that there is more than one solution, recognizing that everyone has strengths and weaknesses)

•managed emotions (protecting others from one’s most intense emotional responses: managing one’s anger, sadness, fear, and anxiety so as to not over-react and take things personally, and to not pass on these feelings to the child), and

•moderate behaviors (avoiding extreme actions, including extreme behavior during custody exchanges, extreme parenting order requests, and violence; encouraging positive relationships, co-parenting possibilities, and thinking before acting).

Following individual counselling for parents, counselling sessions for each parent together with the child(ren) provide a supported opportunity for parent-child communication about the new ways their family will operate and to allow parents to teach their children the same three skills they learned in their individual counselling.

The New Ways for Families Programwas a three year pilot project funded through the Justice and Attorney General office. The evaluation is intended to help meet reporting and accountability requirements, as well as providing feedback and guidance to the project for the purpose of ongoing project development. In addition, the evaluation report describes and explains the best practice model developed through the pilot and explore evidence of program effectiveness.

2.0 Project Goals

  1. To reduce potential escalation, assault or re-victimization in high conflict parenting cases.
  2. To increase parent's cooperative parenting skills in high conflict parenting cases.
  3. To ensure children’s interests and best interests are heard by parents and other decision makers in parenting cases.
  4. To facilitate “best interests” decisions being informed by evidence with respect to children’s interpretation of their own experience, increasing the likelihood that when parenting decisions are made, children’s physical, psychological and emotional safety is ensured.
  5. To prevent and address the harmful effects and the subsequent likelihood of later criminal behavior by children in high conflict parenting cases in which domestic violence is present.
  6. To contribute to system collaboration among justice and social service practitioners working with families in high conflict parenting cases in which domestic abuse is present.
  7. To reduce number of court appearances, returns to court for these families.

2.1 Theory of Change

If separating or divorcing couples battling over child-custody and access, receive skill building counselling that results in respectful communication, they are more likely to negotiate the best outcome for their children and to effectively co-parent into the future.

3.0 Client Profile

From February 2012 to the end of December 2014, the New Ways for Families Program has had a total of 142program referrals. Of these, 64 referrals were Court of Queen's Bench Orders; 73 referrals were Provincial Court Orders, and five were out of court referrals.

As part of the program intake processes, individuals complete an intake questionnaire to collect demographic and parenting relationship information; to screen for and highlight particular areas of concern; and to establish baseline levels of self-reported mental health, child(ren)’s health and overall wellbeing.

The information from 236completed intake questionnaires, representing 118cases (i.e. approximately 118men and 118women), provides important insights about the families that are participating in the New Ways Program. In total, the cases included 237 children, with a median of two children per family. The majority of families (74% of client cases) have one or two children.

Clients indicated that their relationships had lasted from 2 weeks up to more than 20 years before separation/divorce.

Health Issues: After divorce/separation, overhalf (53%) of clients indicated that they have accessed mental health services and a quarter (26%) of clients indicated that they have accessed medical services as a result of issues related to separation/divorce.

Returns to Court: A vast majority (81%) of families in the New Ways for Families program indicated that they have returned to court for parenting issues on multiple occasions, with more than a third (37%) of clients indicating that they have returned 3 or more times. At the low end, 32 clients (16 cases) indicated that they have not returned to court for parenting issues at all, however the high end of the range extends up to 20 times.

Abuse/Family Violence: Over half (59%) of families in the program reported that their relationships had been abusive. Of these families, 96% reported the abuse had been verbal/emotional; nearly half of those reporting abuse(45%) reported they had experienced physical abuse; approximately 36% reported it had been financial abuse; and approximately 12% reported that the abuse had been sexual.


The results presented above are averaged across reports from both parties, however there were some differences in reporting of abuse by male and female parties. In particular, only 4% of male parties reported occurrence of sexual abuse, while 11% of female parties reported this type of abuse. Other types of abuse were reported at similar rates by both parties. The occurrence of abuse generally was reported with greater frequency by female parties (33% reporting abuse) in contrast to male parties (25% reporting abuse).

Police Involvement: Approximately one fifth of participants indicated domestic violence restraining order was either previously or currently in place upon intake in the program. Approximately 33% of clients indicated that the police had been called to their home because of violence with the ex-partner after separation/divorce; in approximately 50% of these cases the police called were called multiple times to the home after separation/divorce.

Parenting Issues: 87% of clients stated that discussions about parenting issues with their ex-partner results in an argument always, often, or sometimes. Approximately one third of clients indicated that arguments always occur when discussing parenting issues with their ex-partners.

Impact on Children: Upon intake, 87% of families indicated they felt that children were affected to some degree by parenting disputes (extremely, significantly, moderately, or somewhat). Approximately 39% of responses indicated parents felt that children were significantly or extremely affected.

4.0 Outputs

From the start of the program in February 2012 until the end of December 2014, 99 cases have completed the New Ways for Families counselling.Fifty cases were resolved without a Court hearing, 13 cases required a court hearing for resolution and 36 cases were pending resolution.

Completed and Resolved

A total of 50 cases were resolved as follows:

  • 4 cases self-resolved prior to PC stage

  • 6 cases self-resolved following P.C. stage

  • 23 cases self-resolved following P.C.C. stage

  • 2 cases resolved via Collaborative Law

  • 12 cases resolved following a J.D.R. after completing the program

  • 1 case resolved after attending Mediation following the program

  • 2 cases the parties reconciled

Court Hearings

  • In 13 cases, Court hearings were held with Parent-Child Counsellor testimony

(6 in Provincial Court; 7 in Court of Queen’s Bench)

Completed but Unresolved

Of the remaining 36 cases which completed the New Ways for Families program but remained unresolved at the end of March 2014:

  • 1 case is awaiting second interim review

  • 19 cases are awaiting J.D.R. Date following Final Review Date

  • 7 cases are attending Mediation following P.C.C. stage

  • 7 cases are awaiting Final Review Court Date

  • 1 case where parenting application withdrawn from court

  • 1 case is a voluntary application - no legal process engaged for parenting order. No order/consent agreement yet.

Incomplete Cases

At the end of March 2014 there were 20 cases where the co-parents did not complete the program:

  • in 1 case one party was incarcerated,
  • in 7 cases one party chose not to participate in program at the outset;
  • in 2cases one party was not recommended to continue in Phase 2 following the Parent Counselling stage;
  • in 4 cases the parties did not complete Phase 2 and were not ordered to continue;
  • in 1 case, one party did not complete phase 2;
  • 1 case is on hold until completion of Practice Note 8 ordered by the judge;
  • in 1 case, parties could not demonstrate skills to child, awaiting JDR;
  • in 2 cases Children’s Services intervened and the case was diverted away from NWFF;
  • in 1 case one of the clients passed away.

Dismissed Cases

At the end of December 2014, sixcases had been dismissed.

  • 5 cases were dismissed due to one party not following through with sessions; and
  • 1 case was dismissed as one party was deemed “inappropriate” to continue to Phase 2.

5.0 Outcomes/Results

Matched pre and post-tests were available for 59clients (27men; 32women). Cases in the sample included a total of 89 children. Following is a list of the outcomes identified in the NWFF Program Logic Model and the results taken from the Ribner pre/post surveys.

Outcome: Parents develop skills that result in improved parenting cooperation.

Overall, pre/post test scores increased for 54% of parents, indicating that there was an overall increase in skills that result in improved parenting cooperation.[1] Broken down by question within the parenting cooperation scales analyzed, on every question more than half of parents maintained or improved their scores.

This includes areas such as:

  • Willingness to accommodate changes in visiting arrangements;
  • Viewing former spouse as a resource in raising the children;
  • Willingness to act a resource to former spouse in raising the children.

On reverse scored questions, there was an overall decrease in areas such as:

  • Arguments over parenting;
  • Feeling an underlying atmosphere of hostility or anger with their former spouse;
  • Tense or stressful conversations with their former spouse.

Joint Decision Making

Three quarters (75%) of parents maintained or improved their joint decision making around major decisions concerning their children’s lives. However, 68% maintained or improved their joint decision making around day-to-day decisions regarding their children’s lives.

Communication

With regard to improved parenting communication, scores improved or stayed the same for 66% of all participants in all areas. An even higher percentage of parents maintained or improved their scores in the following areas:

  • 75% of clients maintained or improved their discussions of medical or school problems of children;
  • 68% of clients maintained or improved in talking about problems they were having raising children;
  • 67% of clients maintained or improved in discussing problems children may be experiencing.

Outcome: Improved parent/child relationships.

The questionnaire section[2] measuring for improvements in parent-child relationships shows a scoring trend which indicates that most parents see themselves as ‘usually’ or ‘very much’ involved in relationship-building activities with their child(ren), with little change from pre to post test (i.e. before and after the NWFF intervention). In all areas of involvement, from discipline to taking vacations, between 75% and 88% of parents maintained or increased their level of involvement (with most parents maintaining their levels of involvement).

About one quarter (26%) of clients indicated a decrease in how much children are affected negatively by parenting disputes.

Outcome: Reduced stress and trauma for children

It is well known that stress and conflict within the family and/or between parents can have a negative impact on children’s overall well-being. Parent rated outcomes for children were available for up to43 cases (depending on the question asked). Based on parental observations, many children appear to have been positively impacted by the program. The most common changes reported were less acting out behaviours (40%); less difficulty sleeping (38%); less complaints of headaches (25%); improved school performance (33%); and less resistance to seeing the other parent (33%).

Children Showing Improvement / Areas of Improvement
22% / Looks forward to seeing other parent (n=41)
33% / Less resistance to seeing other parent (n=40)
38% / Less difficulties sleeping (n=42)
25% / Less complaints of stomach ache (n=40)
32% / Less complaints of headache (n=41)
40% / Less acting out behaviours (n=43)
31% / Improved school attendance (n=39)
33% / Improved school performance (n=40)

6.0 Case Example

Terra and John entered the New Ways for Families program shortly after the birth of their son, Liam. At the time, they were fiercely divided on the custody and visitation schedule, and what was in the best interest of their son. Terra was adamant that John should receive only limited parenting time. She was angry that John had “abandoned” her during the pregnancy when he had an affair and became engaged to another woman. John insisted that his engagement did not affect his parenting ability and “demanded” at least 50/50 parenting time, if not more. They had resorted to only communicating by email, and rarely came to any agreements.

At their first custody hearing, both Terra and John were ordered to attend New Ways for Families. During Individual Counseling, both parents expressed difficulty communicating with and trusting one another. At first, Terra could not shift her focus from grief and anger to learning co-parenting and communication skills. She wanted John’s visitation with Liam to be minimal with a gradual increased over time, while John believed he had to “fight back” without compromising in order to get his entitled visitation time. However, after expressing each of their concerns to their therapist and engaging in a structured joint session, both parents began to see the position of the other. Terra realized that her biggest fear was that John would abandon them again, causing Liam unnecessary grief. John recognized that Terra was only concerned about the emotional well-being of their son and was not trying to sabotage his relationship with Liam.

During the Parent-Child Counseling sessions, both Terra and John were able to focus on the New Ways skills and making decisions that were in the best interest of their son. Terra became more comfortable with an equal parenting schedule after seeing that a neutral third party (the Parent-Child Counselor) thought that John was appropriately demonstrating the New Ways skills with Liam. The final session was a joint session, with both Terra and John discussing how,at the appropriatetime in the future,they wouldexplain to Liam that he had two families and two homes. By the time Terra and John met with their lawyers, they had agreed to all terms of the parenting schedule and did not return to court or mediation.

Terra and John completed the New Ways for Families program in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. The New Ways Coordinator found their story to be unique, stating, “They came so far from where they were in the beginning. When they came in for their intakes they were at that point of only communicating through e-mailing through mom’s sister – by the end they were able to call each other directly and communicate face-to-face about things, compromise and reach agreements.”

7.0 Client Feedback

A follow up telephone survey conducted with 17 clients in 2013 provided varying feedback on the program’s overall effectiveness. Some participants said the program was great and really helped with communication with their ex and others said it wasn't helpful at all. Some said the content was pretty much common sense but several people said it was nice to have someone to talk to and run through scenarios with.

For those parents whose children were really young, the child portion of the program was not especially helpful. In many cases parents reported that the younger children just played during the session.

Most people said it was easy to set up appointments with the counsellors and get all the paperwork needed. Many people liked the workbook because it gave them something to structure the session and work from. Most reported the counsellor followed the workbook, but there were a few who didn't.

8.0 Systems Impact

The NWFF Coordinator provides orientation and training on the NWFF program, processes and referral procedures for judges and lawyers. The Judges role is to steer potential clients into the NWFF program. During the first full year of programming, the program coordinator provided orientation and training to:

  • 50 Court of Queen’s Bench Justices in Calgary
  • 15 Provincial Court Judges in Lethbridge
  • 5 Provincial Court Judges in Medicine Hat

There has been no additional NWFF training provided in the second or third year of the program. NWFF is now planning to use a Train the Trainer model due to challenges in accessing Bill Eddie (NWFF founder) for training in Alberta. The plan is to train four local professionals (social workers and lawyers) who will in turn be available to provide training for Judges.