Collaboration of prevention science and the family court

This paper describes 27 years of collaborative activities between a team of researchers at the Arizona State University Prevention Research Center (ASU PRC) and the Maricopa County Family Court Division of the Superior Court. The complementary goals and expertise of the family court and prevention science are described as providing the foundation in which the missions of each can be advanced through collaborative activities. Four kinds of collaborative activities are described, which are differentiated according to the initiator of the activity and the primary immediate beneficiary. Nineteen separate collaborative activities that were conducted over the 27 years are described. Finally, lessons learned from this long-term collaboration are described including; mutual benefits of each activity, the benefit of complementary perspectives, the cumulative value of collaborations over time, the key role of the local key champion, and the societal benefit from the synergistic roles of university-based research and the family courts.