Consulting
Consultation on parenting plans, coparenting, family transition, and complex family-law questions.
About
Dr. Marsha Kline Pruett is the Maconda Brown O’Connor Professor at Smith College School for Social Work. She is also a psychologist, researcher, educator, and consultant whose work centers on child development, coparenting, family transition, and child-centered family law. She is especially known for translating developmental knowledge into practical guidance for families, courts, and professionals. About →
Her current research focuses on father involvement, coparenting assessment, and family dispute resolution. Major projects include Supporting Father Involvement and CoPAFS, along with intervention and evaluation work in schools, community agencies, and courts. Research →
In clinical and consulting practice, she works on complex family cases with child well-being at the center. She advises couples, parents, attorneys, courts, and institutions on parenting plans, mediation, separation and divorce, and difficult family transitions. She also collaborates with institutions on court-connected models that help keep children’s needs in focus. Clinical →
She is the author of more than 150 publications, including books, empirical studies, intervention curricula, and family-law scholarship. Her writing connects research, practice, and policy in ways that improve outcomes for children and families. Publications →
Areas of work
Research & Publications
Books, recent publications, and projects including CoPAFS, Supporting Father Involvement, and dispute-resolution scholarship.
Clinical Practice
Clinical work with couples, parents, and families centered on mediation, planning, and transition.
Selected books
How to Prepare for and Respond to a Crisis 
Your Divorce Advisor 
Strengthening Couple Relationships for Optimal Child Development 
Partnership Parenting Forthcoming and recent publications
- Fieldstone, L., Pruett, M.K., & Kumaria, S. (in press). As one gate closes, another one opens: First application of gatekeeping to older families. Family Court Review.
- Pruett, M.K., McNamara, K., & Polin, J. (in press). Shared parenting time: The King Solomon parable still holds. In L. Drozd, M. Saini, & K. Olsen (Eds.), Parenting plan evaluations: Applied research for the family court (3rd edition). Oxford University Press.
- Capdevila-Brophy, C., Carter, D.K., & Pruett, M.K. (in press). When orders aren’t enough: A new model for child-centered care in cross border family conflicts. In L. Traum & A. Crampton (Eds.), FCR Special Issue: Interdisciplinary Peacemaking: Family Dispute Resolution Without Borders.
- Herman, R.J., Craft, A., Crowley, C., Perry-Jenkins, M., Powers, S.I., Pruett, M.K., Straus, R.B., & Byatt, N. (2026). A coparent intervention to prevent prenatal stress and depression symptoms in families with lower incomes. Family Relations, 75(2), 1409-31.
- Pruett, M.K., & Drozd, L.M. (2025, e-edition). Gatekeeping in family law: Not an open and shut case! In S.J. Schoppe-Sullivan & F.K. Aytac-Dicarlo (Eds.), Parental Gatekeeping (chapter 7). Routledge.
- Cowan, P.A., Cowan, C.P., Pruett, M.K., & Pruett, K.D. (2024). Navigating the gap between correlational and intervention studies of fatherhood and children’s development: A family systems ecological perspective. Parenting: Science and Practice, 25(4), 367-397.
- Pruett, M.K., & Briskin, E. (2024). Evidence for popular family dispute resolution models. In P. Salem and K. Browe-Olson (Eds.), Family Dispute Resolution Handbook (2nd edition, pp. 513-541), Oxford University Press.
- Pruett, M.K., Fidnick, L., & Stern, N. (2024). The Family Resolutions Specialty Court: A multidisciplinary problem-solving approach. In P. Salem and K. Browe-Olson (Eds.), Family Dispute Resolution Handbook (2nd edition, pp. 494-510), Oxford University Press.
- Pruett, M.K., Wang, X., Zhu, T., Alschech, J., & Saini, M. (2024). The Coparenting Across Family Structures (CoPAFS) scale: Replication for Mandarin parents. Family Process, 63(2), 1068-1083.
- Schepard, A., Pruett, M.K., & Salem, P. (2024). Court and community planning for family dispute resolution: An integrated model. In P. Salem and K. Browe-Olson (Eds.), Family Dispute Resolution Handbook (2nd edition, pp. 451-471), Oxford University Press.
- Pruett, M.K., Johnston, J.R., Saini, M., Sullivan, M., & Salem, P. (2023). The use of parental alienation constructs by family justice system professionals: A survey of belief systems and practice implications. Family Court Review, 61(2), 372-394.
Selected clients and collaborations
