Online Parenting Education for Divorcing and Separating Parents: Understanding Who Participates in Court-Affiliated Programs

Parenting programs provided through the court system aim to reduce interparental conflict while teaching parents appropriate strategies to help their children through the divorce or separation. However, families often fail to start and/or complete recommended programming. We examined data from 221 separating and divorcing parents in initial court cases in [county, state, masked for review]. Parents were court-ordered, using randomization, to a no program control condition or to complete one of two online parenting programs, Two Families Now (TFN) or Children in Between (CIB). Each program averaged three hours in length. We conducted a series of conditional regression analyses exploring predictors of program participation among those assigned to a parenting program (N = 151). Seventy percent (N = 105) of parents assigned to a program participated in the program (i.e., all who started a program also completed it). Parents who reported statistically significantly more years of education, were divorcing versus unmarried, and who had significantly less time since their separation from the other parent were more likely to participate in the program, all with small odds ratios. Our findings indicate that courts and program developers should consider ways to best increase program participation rates, particularly among parents with fewer resources (e.g., decreasing logistical barriers and program burden), along with offering the program close to the time of separation.