The Columbus Pilot Project: Developing a Model for Cost- Outcome Analysis on Violence and Child Abuse Cases in the Family Court of Western Australia

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This article begins by summarising the Columbus Pilot Project, designed to evaluate a managed interdisciplinary approach to cases of domestic violence and child abuse in the Family Court of Western Australia. A working hypothesis informing the project is that, compared with traditional litigation processes, a managed interdisciplinary approach to these cases will yield outcomes more consistent with children’s best interests at lower long-term cost to families, the community, and the Court. The main focus of the article is a progress report on evaluation design issues associated with mapping the costs in these cases.