Focus on Kids is a research-based educational program for divorcing and separating parents. It is based on the latest evidence about successful co-parenting and helping children adjust to separation and divorce, and was developed in 1995 by faculty members from the Department of Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) at the University of Missouri. Focus on Kids is conducted statewide in cooperation with local Judicial Circuit Courts, and is facilitated by regional Human Development Extension Specialists.

Focus on Kids was originally developed as a single 2½ hour session conducted in a face-to-face group format. Focus on Kids Online was developed in 2008; however, court permission is required to ensure that it is recognized as fulfilling any mandated requirement. If approved, you must first register an account with Focus on Kids Online. Then follow the instructions in the confirmation email to click on the link and pay for the program. You can then log in with your email and password.

The overall goal of the program is to help parents facilitate their children’s adjustment to divorce/separation. More specifically, five research-based objectives underlie the Focus on Kids program curriculum:

1. To encourage ex-partners to resolve conflicts pertaining to their children directly with each other and without putting children in the middle of their disputes.
2. To encourage both parents to remain actively involved in the lives of their children following divorce/separation (within limits).
3. To provide concrete suggestions of helpful parental behaviors and how to avoid potentially unhealthy parental behaviors.
4. To provide information on how divorce affects children’s socioemotional adjustment, with some attention to the differing effects on children of various ages.
5. To provide information on self-help organizations, self-help groups, human service agencies and other organizations that may be helpful to children and parents as they attempt to adjust to the process of divorce.