Divorce Education

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend UTCFR (Utah Council on Family Relations). It was their annual conference. I was very excited because it was the first conference that I had ever attended on the family. I learned so much at this conference. Some of the highlights were learning about Kinship Care; the effects of prayer on personal motivation, emotions, and perceptions across varying faiths; changing trends in dating; trends in attendance of marriage preparation classes; the volunteer CASA program; and there were numerous presentations about school shootings. I think it would be so wonderful to blog about all of those topics. They all had an impact on me. However, the presentation that I want to highlight in this blog comes from the keynote address given by Alan Hawkins, PhD.

The presentation gave some interesting statistics about divorce. According to Hawkins, 10% of couples going through the divorce process still believe that the marriage could be saved. 10% of couples are also interested in reconciliation, even while going through divorce. The findings of the study he cited are interesting. They suggest that many individuals who divorce could have reconciled had they had the proper help and information.

Hawkins' presentation then featured the Divorce Orientation Education (DOE) classes in Utah. Differing from Divorcing Parents Education, DOE classes contain information on the effects of divorce. They also give the couple advice on how they could save their marriage. Utah currently mandates that individuals with a dependent child who file for divorce must take this class. The filing parent must take the class within 60 days of filing.

Because the Divorce Orientation Education classes are being pioneered by Utah, and because they are relatively new, the effects of these classes have not yet been studied. Hawkins' presentation included ways in which he believed the classes needed to be improved. The following are his concerns:

A. There has been no research done on these classes.
B. The classes are overseen by the Administrative Office of the Court.
C. Implementation policy is problematic: curriculum is unstandardized, teachers create their own curriculum.
E. 80% of attending couples said that they needed it at the beginning of their divorce instead of at the end. In other words, they receive the information too late into the divorce to save their marriage.

Hawkins' suggestions are these:

A. Change the timing of post-filing requirements to pre-filing requirements. This may allow couples to get information before they feel it is too late to save their marriage.
B. Provide online classes - this would give couples more privacy as well as require standardization of course curriculum.
C. Research needs to be done on the effectiveness of DOE's to see what works and what does not. Are the classes doing what they are meant to?
D. Support policies which implement and increase the effectiveness of these programs.

Overall the presentation was very insightful. The opportunity for couples to receive help could change the number of families who go through a divorce. This is needed in a our society where so many children are affected by divided, reconstituted, and high-conflict homes.

For more information visit divorce.usu.edu