Publications

The Center for Families, Children & the Courts (CFCC) publishes many written materials for a diverse audience of judges, professionals, and court users. These publications include research briefings, statistical updates, informational pamphlets, and more. Browse these publications by subject area below.

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Child Support / AB 1058 / Title IV-D
Children & Family Resources

Juvenile Dependency Court Orientation VideoThis 13 minute video explains the dependency court process to parents who have had children removed from their care. It describes detention, jurisdiction, disposition, and review hearings.

Collaborative Justice Courts

A Preliminary Look at California Parole Reentry Courts (06/2012; 10 pages)

Applying Collaborative Justice Court Principles and Practices Faculty Guide (228 pages) For size reasons, publication comes in two separate PDF files. For a companion DVD, please contact: collaborativejustice@jud.ca.govApplying Collaborative Justice Court Principles and Practices Faculty Guide, pages 1-114Applying Collaborative Justice Court Principles and Practices Faculty Guide, pages 115-228

Transferring Collaborative Justice Principles (12/2004) A recent study examines the potential to apply specialized "problem-solving court" principles and practices more broadly throughout state court systems. Based on focus groups and interviews with 35 judges in California and New York, the study assesses which problem-solving court practices are transferable to general court calendars, the major barriers to transferability and how problem-solving methods may be more widely disseminated among judges and judicial leaders.

Court News Article
Full Report

California's Collaborative Justice Courts, Building a Problem-Solving Judiciary

Click here to continue to the California Collaborative Justice Courts main page for additional information.

Research Publications

California Drug Courts: A Methodology for Determining Costs and Avoided Costs(05/23/2006)

Research Summary: California Drug Court Cost Analysis Study

Phase I: Building the Methodology

Phase II: Testing the Methodology Final Report

The study found that

  • Drug court participants had significantly lower rates of recidivism than the comparison group (29% vs. 41%). Graduates of the drug court program had even lower rates of recidivism (17%).
  • The nine drug courts showed savings ranging from $3,200 to $20,000 per participant.
  • The study showed over $9 million in savings for the state for a group of 900 participants.

California's Collaborative Justice Courts: Building a Problem-Solving JudiciaryThis study describes the development of the various collaborative courts in California since their inception in the 1980's.

Center for Court Innovation: Collaborative Justice in Conventional Courts: Opportunities and Barriers

Center for Court Innovation: Collaborative Justice in Conventional Courts: Stakeholder Perspectives in California

Research Update: STAR Court Study: Initial Results (January 2020)The Judicial Council’s Center for Families, Children & the Courts has partnered with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to conduct a comprehensive study of the Succeeding Through Achievement and Resilience (STAR) Court, a juvenile collaborative court program focused on providing services to commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) or youth at risk of exploitation. This research update provides descriptive data about STAR Court participants.

An Overview of California’s Girls’ and CSEC Courts: Process Evaluation Report 2021 This final evaluation report details the results of a process evaluation of California’s girls’ and CSEC courts designed for those at risk of or have been Commercially Sexually Exploited Children.. The report covers an overview of what girls’ courts and CSEC courts are, the existing literature about this court type, the methodology used in the evaluation, and evaluation results. It concludes with a set of recommendations for courts that might see victims of exploitation or that want to create their own girls’ or CSEC court.

Click here to continue to the California Collaborative Justice Courts main page for additional information.

Domestic Violence
Elder Abuse
Family Dispute Resolution (Family Court Services)

Orientation to Family Court Mediation and Child Custody Recommending Counseling 
Mediation and child custody recommending counseling is a process in which a neutral, specially trained professional will listen to the parents concerns and help them develop a parenting plan that meets the needs of their family in the event of a divorce or when two parents choose to live apart. This video describes the mediation and child custody recommending counseling court process, provides helpful information about parenting plans, and offers tips on how parents can reduce conflict and help their children adjust to the changes happening in their family.

See also "Snapshot Study"

Family Law
Juvenile Delinquency

CFCC is involved in many juvenile delinquency projects aimed at improving the juvenile justice system. As a result, CFCC produces publications and other resources to provide information to court professionals, justice partners, and the public. Juvenile Delinquency publications can be found on the Juvenile Delinquency page.

Juvenile Dependency

CFCC is involved in many projects aimed assisting courts hearing dependency cases. Staff provide technical assistance, legal information, training, and education to judges, attorneys, and system partners. Staff also produces publications and other resources for both professionals and court users. To access the publications and program information visit the Juvenile Dependency page.

The Juvenile Dependency Court and You – A Guide for Parents This guide describes the dependency court process in California. It also includes the story of one parent who went through the dependency system and her advice to you on how to get your children back home.

Printable English version in black and white
Printable English version in color
Printable Spanish version in black and white
Printable Spanish version in color

The Guide to Dependency Court has more information on what happens to juvenile custody orders when your case is over. More resources can be found on the Juvenile Dependency page.

Mental Health Funding
Self-Represented Litigants / Self-Help Programs
Supervised Visitation / Access to Visitation

Supervised Visitation - An Annotated Bibliography (17 MB) (2000)

A Guide for the Non-Professional Provider of Supervised Visitation

Access to Visitation Grant Program Annual Reports to the California Legislature: Pursuant to Family Code section 3204(d), the Judicial Council shall, on March 1, 2002, and the first day of March each subsequent even-numbered year, report to the Legislature on the programs funded and whether and to what extent those programs are achieving the goal of promoting and encouraging healthy parent and child relationships between non-custodial or joint custodial parents and their children while ensuring the health, safety, and welfare of children, and other goals described in this chapter.

Legislative Report:California's Access to Visitation Grant Program for Enhancing Responsibility and Opportunity for Nonresidential Parents-The First Five Years: Report to the Legislature (March 2002) The first published report to the Legislature that provided an overview of the grant program and its accomplishments. Although no recommendations are made in the report, the following actions to improve parents access to and visitation with their children were highlighted as deserving the Legislature's consideration: (1) mandatory training and education for SV providers; (2) expansion of A/V to non-existing counties; (3) recognition of A/V grant-related services as an essential court-based service; and (4) addressing the inadequacy of funding.

Legislative Report:A Report to the California Legislature: California's Access to Visitation Grant Program for Enhancing Responsibility and Opportunity for Nonresidential Parents Fiscal Year 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 (February 28, 2003) Provides information on overall program administration, review and selection processes, and reporting requirements. Although no specific recommendations are made in the report, the report highlights one major challenge—the need to identify adequate, stable funding resources for programs to meet the increasing demands of the courts and parents struggling with access to visitation issues.

Legislative Report:California's Access to Visitation Grant Program: Fiscal Year 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 (March 2004) Provides the state Legislature with details on the grant programs, the scope of these programs’ services, and the development and implementation of the new state Access to Visitation Grant Program Data Collection and Reporting System, which took effect October 1, 2003. Although no formal recommendations are made in the report, it identifies a major challenge that warrants the Legislature’s consideration—maintaining and expanding services despite the impediment of inadequate funding. It also identified three next steps for the grant program: (1) conduct a statewide needs assessment; (2) evaluate the data collection system that was created; and (3) identify effective models of practice.

Legislative Report:California's Access to Visitation Grant Program: Fiscal Years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 (March 2005) Provides an overview on the grant-related achievements supported and administered by the courts and their collaborative, community-based subcontractors. In addition, it highlights program service accomplishments and general provisions of service delivery.

Legislative Report:California's Access to Visitation Grant Program: Fiscal Years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 (March 2006) Provides general information on the programs funded for the fiscal year. To enhance court and community outreach while also reinforcing the goals of information sharing and maximal use of program resources to meet the needs of the courts and families receiving grant-funded services, the grant program proposes to spend fiscal years 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 focused on the following goals and activities: (1) providing technical assistance and offering training and education to courts statewide; (2) using the research findings from the programs’ data collection and reporting system to create a profile of the demographic population characteristics of families receiving A/V services; (3) developing a A/V Program Resources Binder; (4) developing an informational directory of statewide SV service providers; and (5) identifying model programs that can be replicated on both state and national levels.

Legislative Report:California's Access to Visitation Program: Fiscal Year 2005-2006 (July 2007) Highlights the total number of clients served for fiscal year 2005-2006 and how the courts and their subcontractors are promoting and encouraging healthy parent and child relationships through the grant-related services. Although no specific recommendations are made in the report, programmatically, the greatest challenge and statewide need continues to be adequate funding to meet essential court-related services. The report highlights that to assist the courts, program administrators, program constituents, and the Legislature in evaluating future policy decisions, the first in a series of future statistical data reports will be reported regarding the AV Data Collection and Reporting System. In fiscal year 2008, a demographic profile of the characteristics of families receiving services will be provided.

Legislative Report:Ten Years of Access to Visitation Grant Program Services (Fiscal Years 1997-2007) (March 2008) The grant program celebrated its 10-year anniversary in fiscal year 2006–2007. The report showcases programs funded, program successes and accomplishments, innovative promising practices, and program service delivery gaps and challenges. Although no formal recommendations are made in the report, it does identify various challenges and complexities regarding the administration and operation of the grant-related services that limit the ability of the grants to address the great demand for program services.

Legislative Report:California's Access to Visitation Grant Program (Fiscal Year 2009-2010) (March 2010)

Legislative Report:California’s Access to Visitation Grant Program for Fiscal Years 2010–2011 and 2011–2012  (March 2012)

Legislative Report:California’s Access to Visitation Grant Program (Fiscal Years 2012–2013 and 2013–2014), as required by Government Code section 9795  (March)

Legislative Report:California’s Access to Visitation Grant Program (Federal Fiscal Years 2014–2016): 2016 Report to the Legislature  

Unified Courts for Families