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Selected General Family Law & Social Policy Sites
This section lists some of the top family law research sites currently on the Internet. Most sites are annotated for your convenience.
Please Note: These links will open in a new browser window.
American Bar Association Family Law Section
http://www.abanet.org/family/home.html
The Mission of the ABA Section of Family Law “is to serve as the national leader in the field of marital and family law.†The site has sections for members and students, CLE information, and publications. General public resources include a FAQ about Family Law, Domestic Violence & Safety Tips, Family Law Tables, fact books on children and the law, women and the law, and the elderly and the law. Other information includes the “ABA Child Custody Pro Bono Project†and “Reports, Recommendations and Standards of Practice†for Family Law practitioners. Also provided are abstracts and ordering information on the Family Law Quarterly, the Family Advocate, and other publications.
American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers
http://www.aaml.org/
The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers is a national organization, based in Chicago. The site offers news updates of interest to matrimonial lawyers, a collection of links, and information about the Academy. Useful resources include: “Divorce Manual: A Client Handbook†which provides an overview of the divorce process, the “Children’s Bill of Rights,†“Bounds of Advocacy: Goals for Family Lawyers,†and articles by divorce attorneys.
ChildStats.gov
http://childstats.gov/
This web site offers easy access to federal and state statistics and reports on children and their families, including population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education. It includes the reports of the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics such as America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, the Annual Federal Monitoring Report on the Status of the Nation's children, and Counting Couples.
International Family Law: A Selective Resource Guide
http://www.llrx.com/features/int_fam.htm
This site contains a guide to print and electronic material in international family law. It is maintained by Marylin Johnson Raisch, the librarian for International and Foreign Law at the Bora Laskin Law Library of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Updated June 28, 2002.
Legal Information Institute at Cornell Family Law Topics
http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/topic2.html#family law
This site provides topical overviews and links to law and resources for the following topics: adoption law, children's rights, custody, divorce, insurance, estate planning, estates and trusts, and marriage. Related topical information includes public benefits and Health and Human Services (Social Security, Welfare).
Nolo Press
http://www.nolo.com/
Nolo Press publishes self-help legal materials. Its Plain-English Law Centers are useful for both lawyers and non-lawyers. The Nolo Press site provides, in plain English, helpful information on marriage & living together, caring for children, and divorce & child custody.
World Wide Web Virtual Family Law Library at Indiana University
http://www.law.indiana.edu/v-lib/
The Family Law Virtual Library links to programs, research, and resources. Links to resource sites are arranged in alphabetical order. They include links to elder law, disability law, domestic violence resources, and other resources dedicated to the prevention of youth problems and the promotion of nurturing children. The site offers a search engine.
Uniform Matrimonial, Family & Health Laws Locator
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uniform/vol9.html
The locator offers a hyperlinked index of state law citations and links to various uniform matrimony and family laws. Researchers can locate state laws on the Web that correspond to uniform matrimonial, family, and health laws. References here include the Uniform Adoption Act, Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, Uniform Civil Liability for Support Act, Uniform Divorce Recognition Act, and the Interstate Family Support Act. For each uniform law, the locator provides links directly to the corresponding state statute.
The Institute for Child and Family Policy
http://www.childpolicy.org/
Located at Columbia University, the overarching goal of the Institute is to stimulate and coordinate the cross-disciplinary work required to make progress on the most difficult child and family policy issues facing the United States. This website includes online research papers, articles and reports, and a hyperlink to an international clearinghouse for children and family policy.
Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern Universityhttp://www.northwestern.edu/IPR/Access abstracts and bibliographies of research and publications on Child, Adolescent, and Family Studies, women, poverty, race, community development, or health policy. Research programs include child, adolescent and family studies. Publications include working papers, books, newsletters and policy briefs. These publications can be searched by table of contents or the IPR search engine. The site also offers full-text access to the N.U. Policy Research electronic journal. Use the search engine with focused keywords to find a variety of abstracts, books, studies, and other publications on children, family, marriage, and divorce.
Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan
The ISR is dedicated to social science in the public interest. Its work represents the disciplines of psychology, political science, economics, anthropology and public health. The Institute's centers offer information on such matters as children and marriage. Use the search engine with keywords such as “family†or “adoption†or “children†to find information on the Institute’s research projects.
The ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data, both archival and recent, for research and instruction. Free data is available on such topics as child care and early education, substance abuse and health, and medical care. Use the search engine with keywords such as “family†or “marriage†or “child†to find information on the Institute’s research projects.
National Council on Family Relations
NCFR provides a forum for family researchers, educators, and practitioners to share in the development and dissemination of knowledge about families and family relationships and works to promote family well-being. It publishes two scholarly journals - Journal of Marriage and Family and Family Relations along with other learning tools. Click on “Families†for practical information about family life. Expert information provided by the NCFR staff/members direct researchers to additional information about various topics.
Data and Program Library Service (DPLS)
The Data and Program Library Service (DPLS) is the central repository of data collections used by the social science research community. Its current holdings mainly support social science research employing statistical methods on numeric data. The site provides information and datasets on economics/labor, health, demographics, and education. Use the search engine with keywords such as “family†or “marriage†or “divorce†etc., to find abstracts of relevant studies. The DPLS News (newsletter) contains updates about research data locally and globally.
The Urban Institute
This institute is a non-partisan economic and social policy research organization. It “measures effects, compares options, shows which stakeholders get the most and least, tests conventional wisdom, reveals trends, and makes costs, benefits, and risks explicit.â€
It conducts research on adolescents and youth development, children, education, health care, housing and related “family†issues. The site’s “Issues in Focus†section provides facts and findings on a sampling of programs and topics such as “Making Marriage Workâ€, child welfare, and health & education. Researchers have access to the Institute's press releases and periodicals. Topics covered include educational policy, health policy, population studies, public finance, housing and state policy. Use the search engine with keywords such as “family†or “marriage†or “divorce†etc., to find relevant studies or reports.
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) – Child Support and Family Law
The NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths, and territories. NCSL provides research, technical assistance, and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues. The website includes an overview of the different states’ legislation regarding family law and family law related issues. It is divided by subject headings and includes a search engine.
Users should note that the free information is supplemented with other information or services that can be purchased.
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