Excerpt from Report Abstract: Co-Parent Court is an innovative collaboration between court, county, the University of Minnesota and community resources to provide comprehensive services to low-income, unmarried parents establishing paternity. Parents are scheduled for a series of co-parenting workshops, referred for social services to meet any of their unmet basic needs and eventually assisted in completing a joint parenting plan.

Data collected as part of the evaluation for the Co-Parent Court Project indicate the project serves high-needs, young, predominantly African-American parents with high rates of unemployment, receipt of public assistance, criminal records and co-parenting with more than one other parent.

Attendance at the four Co-Parent Court workshops is very high and a significant majority of the parents are completing parenting plans together. Continuing impact study indicates that Co-Parent Court fathers who complete the program are paying child support orders at a much higher percentage than fathers in the control group. Intervention mothers report significantly improved co-parenting relationships and an increased amount of time their child spends with the father.