The 2014 Family Law reforms introduced on 31 March 2014 were intended to shift the emphasis of New Zealand's family justice system away from in-Court to out-of-Court processes. In 2014 the New Zealand Law Foundation funded an independent two-phase research project to evaluate these reforms. Phase One (2014-2015) involved the initial scoping, consultation and planning for implementation of the Phase Two nationwide mixed methods study undertaken during 2016-2019.

This research report focuses on data collected by the online surveys and the interview data relating to family justice services. It provides a broad overview of all of the major descriptive findings about parents' and caregivers' experiences of, and views on, making parenting arrangements and their use of any family justice services to help achieve this.