The story of the BC family justice innovation lab

Many in the justice system know that fundamental change is needed but few know the best way to do it. Previous attempts using strategic planning approaches have not achieved meaningful change. Something different is needed. The BC Family Justice Innovation Lab (the Lab) is experimenting with a diffe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Windsor yearbook of access to justice 2017-05, Vol.34 (1), p.1-27
Main Authors: Morley, Jane, Boyle, Kari D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Divorce
Families
Families & family life
Innovations
Justice
Marital disruption
Marital separation
Planning
Separation (Law)
Social aspects
Social justice
Social systems
Strategic planning
Well being
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Many in the justice system know that fundamental change is needed but few know the best way to do it. Previous attempts using strategic planning approaches have not achieved meaningful change. Something different is needed. The BC Family Justice Innovation Lab (the Lab) is experimenting with a different approach drawing on complexity science, the experience of other jurisdictions and disciplines and incorporating human-centred design as a way of focusing on the well-being of families going through the transition of separation and divorce. This article is the story of the first few years of the Lab's life. It has been a fascinating and challenging path so far, and it remains to be seen whether it will ultimately succeed. The story is offered so that others with similar ambitions can learn from the Lab's experience - its successes and its failures. It is the nature and strength of stories that the reader will take from them what they will. For the authors, one overriding theme that emerges from this story is that transforming a complex social system, such as the family justice system in British Columbia, requires embracing the complexity of paradox and refusing to be defeated by the tension of opposites and a multitude of wicked, unanswerable questions.
ISSN:0710-0841