Facilitation in Practice

Montana's Court Improvement Program wanted to create a diverse team of multi-disciplinary partners – judges, attorneys, case workers, system-impacted parents, foster youth, and tribal representation – to gather regularly in order to work on improving their child welfare court system. We went through a co-design process with them, in which we created a storyboard using a purpose-to-practice framework, which is five structural elements that any group should consider prior to launching their effort. We discussed the purpose of their work, the principles that would guide the community's approach to achieving the objective, the people working on the project, how they wanted to distribute power as a team, and the practices they would engage in as a team in order to achieve the shared objective. 

After co-designing with the Montana Court Improvement Program, we traveled to Montana, and over the course of two days, we co-facilitated a purpose-to-practice cycle with them. This initial set of meetings jump started the Montana Court Improvement Program's vision, allowing them to form a thriving community, and in the years since forming that group, they've accomplished quite a bit:

• They've accomplished much around tribal justice, including promoting proper application of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

• They drafted standards for child welfare attorneys.

• They participated in a national study on the application of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

• They instituted a pre-hearing conference program that started as an experimental pilot in one county and is now a statewide, funded program.