About Us
Science with Purpose
The Youth and Families in Court Systems (YFaCS) Lab studies how children and families adapt to stressful family transitions, adversity, and involvement with legal systems.
Our work is driven by a simple goal: to generate knowledge that can improve the lives of children and families. We study why some children and families struggle following difficult experiences while others adapt and thrive, identify processes that can be changed, and use that knowledge to develop and test interventions.
Our work sits at the intersection of psychology, prevention science, and law, with a particular focus on separation and divorce, family court involvement, bereavement, parental incarceration, and other challenging family experiences.
Research
We study why children and families respond differently to stressful experiences. Our research identifies the processes that increase risk for emotional, behavioral, and relational difficulties, as well as the strengths and resources that promote resilience and positive adaptation.
A central goal of this work is to identify modifiable processes—factors that can become targets for programs designed to improve child and family well-being.
Areas of focus
- Separation and divorce
- Family court involvement
- Child coping and resilience
- Parenting and family relationships
- Bereavement and family loss
- Parental incarceration
- Youth mental health
- Prevention and intervention science
- Community-engaged research
Intervention Development
We translate research into practical programs that support children and families navigating stressful life experiences. Our goal is to develop interventions that not only work, but also resonate with the people they are designed for and fit into their everyday lives.
We involve families, professionals, and community partners throughout the development process and use evidence-based methods to design, refine, optimize, and evaluate our programs. From the beginning, we consider how interventions can be accessible and sustainable in real-world settings such as courts, schools, community organizations, and families’ homes.
Community Partnerships
We believe the people who will ultimately use, deliver, or be affected by our work should help shape it. We partner with families, legal professionals, service providers, courts, and community organizations throughout the research process.
These partnerships help us ask more relevant questions, design programs that reflect real-world needs and experiences, and identify practical ways to bring effective interventions into the settings where families already seek support. Our goal is research that is scientifically rigorous, mutually beneficial, and positioned to create meaningful changes in practice, policy, and systems.
Training Future Leaders
The YFaCS Lab trains students to conduct rigorous research that can make a difference in the lives of children and families. Trainees gain hands-on experience across the research process—from developing research questions and designing studies to collecting and analyzing data, developing interventions, and sharing findings with scientific and community audiences.
We emphasize strong scientific training alongside collaboration, mentorship, and engagement with the communities our research is intended to serve. Our goal is to prepare students to think critically about not only what we can learn through research, but how that knowledge can be translated into meaningful real-world impact.