July 2022

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Barbara A. Babb,Marsha Kline Pruett
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12652

EDITORIAL NOTE

July 2022

Welcome to summer, and welcome to the July 2022 issue of Family Court Review. It appears, unfortunately, as

though the pandemic still is with us. We hope that you and your loved ones have remained safe and healthy. We are

pleased to offer you a pandemic summer reading diversion, including nine articles, three law student notes, and the

winning law student article from the 2022 Family Law Writing Competition. We encourage you to read this broad

selection of articles as the summer unfolds.

In the first of the nine articles, “A Critique of Virtual Court for Intimate Partner Abuse Victims in Child Welfare

Cases: Another Layer of Disadvantage for Female Victims?”Sharon Parsons tackles a thorny issue surrounding the

use of virtual technology in family court. She argues, through the use of a narrative account, that this technology is

another type of psychological liability for victims of intimate partner violence. The author advocates for further

research to explore the possible negative implications of virtual court.

“’We Make New Families:’Findings from a Family Court Mediation Study,”by Alexandra Crampton, highlights

the fact that family courts today are managing both family separation and family formation. In an effort to reframe

mediation as part of the family formation process, the author reports on a research study designed to “more induc-

tively ask how mediation works in practice.”

In keeping with FCR's efforts to enhance our international reach and relevance, Renee Morhe authors “Towards

Preventing Decriminalization of Domestic Violence at DOVVSU, Ghana.”She describes various legislation surround-

ing the creation of a specialized unit of the Ghana police force charged with helping survivors and victims of intimate

partner violence to access the justice system, as well as to provide alternative dispute resolution services. The focus

of the article is the provision of ADR services and the consequences, both intended and unintended.

Another article expanding FCR's international reach is “To Negotiate, Mediate or Litigate? Examining the Dura-

bility of Divorce Outcomes in the Singapore Family Courts,”by Dorcas Quek Anderson, Eunice Chua, and Yilin Ning.

The authors report on their review of about 2000 cases filed in the Singapore Family Justice Courts and the durabil-

ity of orders resulting from court-connected mediation, negotiation, and litigation. They attempt to predict re-litiga-

tion trends resulting from each method. Their findings suggest that mediation is the preferred method of dispute

resolution, particularly in cases involving children.

Karey O'Hara, Jess Boring, Irwin Sandler, and Connie Beck author our fifth article, “Enhancing Daily Affect in

Youth Experiencing High-Conflict Parental Divorce: A Multiple Baseline Trial of an Online Prevention Program.”

They report on their study of a “highly interactive, online cognitive-behavioral youth coping program…on children

exposed to high levels of interparental conflict.”The results provide promising avenues to counteract depression

among youth, as well as directions for future research.

In a similar research vein, Michele Porter, Sharlene Wolchik, Irwin Sandler, Emily Winslow, and Jenn-Yun Tein

describe their “evaluation of a randomized controlled trial of an asynchronous, fully web-based parenting-after-

divorce/separation program.”Their article, “Effects of an Asynchronous, Fully Web-based Parenting-after-divorce

Program to Reduce Interparental Conflict, Increase Quality of Parenting and Reduce Children's Post-Divorce Behav-

ior Problems,”sets out to identify and address gaps in these types of programs. The authors report on the results of

their evaluation of the electronic New Beginnings Program as having some of “the strongest findings in the literature

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12652

© 2022 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Family Court Rev. 2022;60:373–374. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 373