This program is for children who are in 2nd and 3rd grade and whose parents are divorced or separated.

Children of Divorce Intervention Program (CODIP): Grades 2-3, a community- or school-based preventive intervention curriculum, is designed to decrease the adverse effects some children experience during parental divorce and separation by teaching them coping, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills.

Results of an internal quasi-experimental study demonstrated that program children experienced significant improvements in behavioral, emotional, and social adjustment from pretest to posttest. No follow-up data were reported in this study. A quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest measures implemented a Dutch adaptation of the program among a group of 6- to 8-year-old children in the Netherlands. Results indicated increases in mother-reported positive functioning and well-being, decreases in mother-reported child emotional and behavioral problems and similar improvements in group leader-reported outcomes in intervention children compared to control children.

Children are referred to CODIP: Grades 2-3 by parents, community members, or school staff. The program is delivered in a nurturing group environment and intends to decrease emotional issues and behavioral problems, increase self-esteem, and enhance youth’s understanding and expression of divorce-related changes. The curriculum addresses the following topics:

• Feelings, families, and family changes – establish a safe, supportive group environment, identify feelings, understand all families are unique, explore divorce experiences using feeling words and concepts;
• Coping skills – learn problem-solving and coping skills that can be used to deal with difficult and uncomfortable feelings and issues, including divorce-related problems; learn to distinguish between problems that can be solved and those that cannot;
• Child-parent relationships – explore feelings about divorce and one’s parents; discuss issues such as loyalty, conflicts, abandonment fears, reconciliation fantasies, feelings of rejection and loss; and
• Children’s perceptions of themselves and their families – enhance self-esteem, become aware of positive family changes, work through feelings of loss as the group ends, seek out others who can provide support after the group ends.

Activities, such as group discussions, skits, role-plays, films, homework, and feedback from group members, are utilized throughout sessions to support and strengthen emotion sharing, coping skills, and self-esteem among participants.

Separate curricula have also been developed for youth in kindergarten and 1st grade, 4th through 6th grade, and 7th and 8th grades.

CODIP was founded in 1982 and has been implemented with thousands of children and adolescents around the world, including the United States, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The extent to which CODIP: Grades 2-3 has been implemented is unclear.

This program is delivered by counselors and mental health professionals. Training is not required; however, a variety of training options and customized professional development offerings are available. Please use details in the Contact section for more information.

Considerations for implementing this program include acquiring school administration or community center leadership, youth, and parent buy-in; recruiting a suitable facilitator and ensuring he or she can attend training, if desired; finding a location to hold sessions; and understanding this program could address sensitive topics.

The Clearinghouse can help address these considerations. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu

If you are interested in implementing CODIP: Grades 2-3, the Clearinghouse is interested in helping you!
Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu

The curriculum consists of 15 45-minute sessions.

The curriculum manual costs $125. A package containing manuals for Grades K-1 and 2-3 is available for $225.

To move CODIP: Grades 2-3 to the Promising category on the Clearinghouse Continuum of Evidence, at least one evaluation should be performed demonstrating positive effects lasting at least one year from the beginning of the program or at least six months from program completion.

The Clearinghouse can help you 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 Children’s Institute by mail 274 N. Goodman Street, Suite D103, Rochester, NY 14607, phone 1-585-295-1000, fax 1-585-295-1090, or visit https://www.childrensinstitute.net/contact-us

https://www.childrensinstitute.net/programs-and-services/codip

Alpert-Gillis, L. J., Pedro-Carroll, J. L., & Cowen, E. L. (1989). The children of divorce intervention program: Development, implementation, and evaluation of a program for young urban children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57(5), 583-589. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.57.5.583

Velderman, M. K., van Dommelen, P., Pannebakker, F. D., & Reijneveld, S. A. (2022). Preventive group training improves children's outcomes after divorce: A Dutch quasi-experimental study. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 31(4), 1069-1078. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02220-x

Pedro-Carroll, J., Alpert-Gillis, L., & Sterling, S. (n.d.). Children of Divorce Intervention Program: A procedures manual for conducting support groups: Second & third grade children. Children’s Institute.

Velderman, M. K., Pannebakker, F. D., van Vliet, W., & Reijneveld, S. A. (2018). Prevention of divorce-related problems in Dutch 4-to 8-year-olds: Cultural adaptation and pilot study of the children of divorce intervention program. Research on Social Work Practice, 28(4), 415-427. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731516644504