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By Colleen Gross Ebinger, Root Cause on Friday, January 18, 2008

As the presidential candidates stumped around Iowa last fall, many campaigned on some version of strengthening families and creating a better world for our nation’s children. They would have done well to have peered in the doors of a small three-year-old nonprofit in Cedar Rapids—The Kids First Law Center. In a nation where 50 percent of marriages end in divorce—meaning that virtually everyone is touched in some significant way by a family break-up—little has been said about how society can mitigate this impact on children. Many would agree that children are left particularly vulnerable after a divorce, and yet the courts grant these children little—indeed often no—input into their post-divorce daily lives. Judith Wallerstein, the acclaimed researcher of marriage and divorce, has concluded that our court system, more frequently than not, fails these children, bemoaning that “lawyers speak up for what parents want, but no one speaks up for the child.”

Kids First is fighting to change this, providing free, court-appointed counsel to children in high-conflict family law cases. Children of high-conflict divorce are more likely than children of amicable divorce to suffer from emotional and behavioral problems, substance abuse, educational failure, and failed relationships as adults. By ensuring that children’s thoughts and feelings are represented, Kids First hopes to reduce the ongoing conflict that plagues many families of divorce and pave the way for a better future. Research shows their approach is promising, with one study finding that 78 percent of the divorce cases that settled without a trial would not have done so without an attorney for the child. And 90 percent of surveyed judges believe that these contested family law cases come back to court less often when a child’s attorney is involved. Kids First is currently exploring ways to expand its services in order to impact more children.

Organizations like Kids First do an incredible service to the nation by testing innovative models that have the potential to transform systems, and leveraging the many resources of a community in order to achieve sustainable results for society. Presidential candidates—looking for big and bold solutions to the many problems facing our nation—should keep their eye on them.

Colleen Gross Ebinger is a project manager of social entrepreneurship & government at Root Cause.

Posted in Innovation