Topic: Divorce, Parenting
Target Population: Parents
Sector: Community-Based
This program is delivered to parents who are divorced or separated and is intended to impact parents and their children.
Children in Between®, formerly known as Children in the Middle, is a community-based, parent-education program that is designed to teach divorced or divorcing parents how to meet the challenges inherent in separated families and acquire strategies to help them raise their children in a positive environment.
No peer-reviewed publications evaluating the effectiveness of the most current version of this program were located. However, evaluations of older versions of the program indicated positive effects of the program on improved parental communication; enhanced parental responses to stressful situations; reductions in child exposure to parental conflicts, put-downs of the other parent, involvement of children in money problems, and using the child as a spy; fewer child school absences and doctor's visits; and reductions in total repeated litigation rates in intervention compared to control groups. However, results should be interpreted with caution due to inadequate outcome measures, uneven samples, and high attrition rates.
Children in Between is delivered through in-person classes or online. The in-person class is delivered using a skills-based approach that involves a group discussion format with no more than 15 participants per class. Sessions cover topics, such as understanding the effects of divorce on children and reducing children's stress, strengthening parenting skills, and improving emotion regulation and communication skills.
The online course can be accessed on a computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone and covers the following modules:
Free text prompts are available to participants of the online course for 6 months and include reminders to practice new skills and a video clip of each skill to view on their device.
This program has been implemented since 1991 and over 50,000 parents have completed the program.
Facilitators are, generally, community volunteers, and there are no educational background or minimum requirements for them. No training is required; however, there is a Leader's Guide available for $25.
Considerations for implementing this program include hiring facilitators who have the ability to lead in-person classes, providing child care, understanding this program will broach difficult and sensitive topics, and ensuring participants have access to a computer or other internet-gateway devices and internet capabilities.
The Clearinghouse can help address these considerations. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
If you are interested in implementing Children in Between, the Clearinghouse is interested in helping you!
Please call 1-877-382-9185 or emailClearinghouse@psu.edu
The in-person class is delivered in two 2-hour, weekly sessions. The online course typically takes 3 to 5 hours to complete.
The Children in Between Workbook and the What About the Children? Workbook cost $150-$480 each. A yearly streaming subscription costs $350. Please visit https://www.childreninbetween.com/ for more information.
To move Children in Between to the Promising category on the Clearinghouse's Continuum of Evidence, at least one well-designed experimental or quasi-experimental study should be performed on the most recent version of the program demonstrating positive effects lasting at least six months from program completion.
The Clearinghouse can help you to develop an evaluation plan to ensure the program components are meeting your goals. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Contact the Clearinghouse with any questions regarding this program.
Phone: 1-877-382-9185 Email:Clearinghouse@psu.edu
You may also contact The Center for Divorce Education by mail 92 Van Ness Ave, Ashland, OR 97520, phone 1-877-874-1365, email staff@divorce-education.com, or visit https://online.divorce-education.com/contact
Arbuthnot, J., & Gordon, D. A. (1996). Does mandatory divorce education for parents work?: A six-month outcome evaluation. Family Court Review, 34(1), 60-81. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.174-1617.1996.tb00400.x
Arbuthnot, J., Kramer, K. M., & Gordon, D. A. (1997). Patterns of relitigation: Following divorce education. Family Court Review, 35(3), 269-279. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.174-1617.1997.tb00469.x
Kramer, K. M., Arbuthnot, J., Gordon, D. A., Rousis, N. J., & Hoza, J. (1998). Effects of skill-based versus information-based divorce education programs on domestic violence and parental communication. Family Court Review, 36(1), 9-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.174-1617.1998.tb00491.x
