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.