Research

Publications

Profiling mother and father reports of safety risks in a postseparation cohort

McIntosh, J. E., Tan, E. S., Greenwood, C., Lee, J., & Holtzworth-Munroe, A. (2021). Profiling mother and father reports of safety risks in a postseparation cohort. Psychology of Violence, 11(1), 61–71.

A 10-Year Retrospective on Universal Risk Screening in a Mediation and Counseling Organization

Lee, J., Ralfs, C., Booth, A. and McIntosh, J.E. (2021), Practicing Best Practice: A 10-Year Retrospective on Universal Risk Screening in a Mediation and Counseling Organization. Family Court Review, 59, 697-709.

Supporting Children and Parents in Sweden through Collaboration Teams

Eriksson, M., & Gabrielsson, M. (2019). Supporting Children and Parents in Sweden through Collaboration Teams. Family Court Review, 57(3), 362-367.

Re-examination of the Family Law Detection of Overall Risk Screen (FL-DOORS): Establishing fitness for purpose

Wells, Y., Lee, J., Li, X., Tan, E. S., & McIntosh, J. E. (2018). Re-examination of the Family Law Detection of Overall Risk Screen (FL-DOORS): Establishing fitness for purpose. Psychological Assessment, 30(8), 1121-1126.

The Family Law DOORS: Research and practice updates. Family Matters, 98, 34-41

McIntosh, J. E., Lee, J., & Ralfs, C. R. (2016). The Family Law DOORS: Research and practice updates. Family Matters, 98, 34-41

Development and Validation of the Family Law DOORS

McIntosh, J. E., Wells, Y., & Lee, J. (2016). Development and Validation of the Family Law DOORS. Psychological Assessment, 28(11), 1516-1522.

Presentations

E-screening for risks to family safety and wellbeing in Gambling Help Services with the Family Doors app

Lee, J., & McIntosh, J. E. (2019, December 4-6). e-screening for risks to family safety and wellbeing in Gambling Help Services with the Family Doors app [Paper presentation]. 2019 Conference of National Association of Gambling Studies, Hobart, TAS, Australia.

Universal risk screening in relationships counselling to enhance client engagement and promote safety and wellbeing

Lee, J., & McIntosh, J. E. (2019, November 19-23). Universal risk screening in relationships counselling to enhance client engagement and promote safety and wellbeing [Paper presentation]. 2019 Conference of Family Relationships Services Australia, Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia.

Over the barriers, onto the benefits: How practitioners changed their minds about universal risk screening

Kelly, M., & Lee, J. (2018, November 20-23). Over the barriers, onto the benefits: How practitioners changed their minds about universal risk screening [Paper presentation]. 2018 Conference of Family and Relationships Services Australia, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

Screened but not heard: The importance of bringing children’s voices into the room when parents present for non-parenting services

Heidenreich, A., Lee, J., & McIntosh, J. E. (2018, July 25-27). Screened but not heard: The importance of bringing children’s voices into the room when parents present for non-parenting services [Poster presentation]. Biennial Conference of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

e-screening: Connecting the dots on risks to family wellbeing

Flint, J., Lee, J., & McIntosh, J. E. (2017, November 22-24). e-screening: Connecting the dots on risks to family wellbeing [Paper presentation]. Annual Conference of Family Relationships Services Australia 2017, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

A large scale validation of the Family Law DOORS: A universal screening framework for identifying and responding to family-wide risks after parental separation

Wells, Y., McIntosh, J.E., & Lee, J. (2017, June 4-7). A large scale validation of the Family Law DOORS: A universal screening framework for identifying and responding to family-wide risks after parental separation [Poster presentation]. 7th World Congress on Family Law and Children’s Rights, Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

Information for researchers

Notice to Practitioners and Researchers

Notice of Terms of Use

The Family DOORS tools (“DOORS”) are intended for professional use, for the express purpose of assisting with preliminary screening and responding to risk. The DOORS, in whole or in part, do not provide any formal diagnosis, finding, conclusion or recommendation, and are not intended to be used as a substitute for assessment. The authors and publishers of the DOORS disclaim any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information gathered in screening processes that employ DOORS, or for decisions that are made or services that are received in conjunction with this tool. The full Terms of Use can be found on the Family DOORS website. Use of DOORS in any form is subject to and conditional upon these Terms of Use. All users of DOORS in any form are deemed, by virtue of such use, to have read, understood, accepted and agreed to these Terms of Use.

Using the Family DOORS™

Accurate use of the DOORS depends on good, ongoing training and the relevant service policies. Reading the supporting material and the Family DOORS handbook including the completion of the self-paced learning activities will provide relevant background for using the DOORS screening tools. A comprehensive online training about the Family DOORS has also been developed and is available for a fee through the www.familydoors.com website.

Researcher Terms of Use

Research use of the DOORS is encouraged, and collaborations are invited. Once permissions are sought, researchers may make free use of the Family DOORS screening tool for research purposes. Researchers wishing to use the Family DOORS Screening Tool for research purposes should contact the author, Prof. Jennifer McIntosh, with a simple letter acknowledging acceptance of the terms of use via Contact: DoorsSupport@rasa.org.au.

The researcher/s will ensure that in their use of the Family DOORS:

the Terms of Use Notice (at the top of this page) appears prominently on the DOORS screening tool
copyright and trademarks pertaining to the DOORS are used
all use of the DOORS screening tool is strictly not for profit
software versions of the tool are not created without express permission
the DOORS screening tools are not modified in any way without permission of the author, including translation from English. If permission to translate is granted, the researcher agrees to make this translation available to the author/s, and to grant them the right to use the translation in their ongoing work with the DOORS
the DOORS Handbook is referred to as an important guide for implementation. Further training can be undertaken as needed from the online program, available at familydoors.com
authorship is acknowledged
reference to the Family DOORS tools and resources are followed as given below (or available from the author via DoorsSupport@rasa.org.au)

Citations

Family Law DOORS

Family Law DOOR 1 (Parent):

McIntosh, J.E. (2011). DOOR 1: Parent Self-Report Form. In J.E. McIntosh & Ralfs, C. (2012). The Family Law DOORS Handbook. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

Family Law DOOR 1 (Property/non-parent):

McIntosh, J.E. (2011). DOOR 1: Non-Parent Self-Report Form. In J.E. McIntosh & Ralfs, C. (2012). The Family Law DOORS Handbook. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

Family Law DOOR 1 (Significant Other):

McIntosh, J.E. (2011). DOOR 1: Significant Other Self-Report Form. In J.E. McIntosh & Ralfs, C. (2012). The Family Law DOORS Handbook. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

Family Law DOOR 2 (Parent):

McIntosh, J.E. (2011). DOOR 2: Practitioner Aide Memoire (Parent). In J.E. McIntosh & Ralfs, C. (2012). The Family Law DOORS Handbook. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

Family Law DOOR 2 (Property/non-parent):

McIntosh, J.E. (2011). DOOR 2: Practitioner Aide Memoire (Property/non-parent). In J.E. McIntosh & Ralfs, C. (2012). The Family Law DOORS Handbook. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

Family Law DOOR 2 (Significant Other):

McIntosh, J.E. (2011). DOOR 2: Practitioner Aide Memoire (Significant Other). In J.E. McIntosh & Ralfs, C. (2012). The Family Law DOORS Handbook. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

MyDOORS

McIntosh, J.E. & Lee, J. (2016). MyDOOR 1 Self-Report Form (with Parent-Child questions) In: J.E. McIntosh & J. Lee (2025). The MyDOORS Handbook. Unpublished Manuscript. Relationships Australia, South Australia and The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University.

McIntosh, J.E., & Lee, J. (2016). MyDOOR 1 Self-Report Form (without Parent-Child questions) In: J.E. McIntosh & J. Lee (2025). The MyDOORS Handbook. Unpublished Manuscript. Relationships Australia, South Australia and The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University.

McIntosh, J.E., & Lee, J. (2016). MyDOOR 2 Practitioner Aide Memoire (with Parent-Child questions). In: J.E. McIntosh & J. Lee (2025). The MyDOORS Handbook. Unpublished Manuscript. Relationships Australia, South Australia and The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University.

McIntosh, J.E., & Lee, J. (2016). MyDOOR 2 Practitioner Aide Memoire (without Parent-Child questions). In: J.E. McIntosh & J. Lee (2025). The MyDOORS Handbook. Unpublished Manuscript. Relationships Australia, South Australia and The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University.

DOORS-YP

Lee, J. & McIntosh, J.E. (2024). YP-DOOR 1 Self-Report Form. In: J. Lee & J.E. McIntosh & (2025). The Young Persons’ DOORS Handbook. Unpublished Manuscript. Relationships Australia, South Australia and The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University.

Lee, J. & McIntosh, J.E. (2024). YP-DOOR 2 Practitioner Aide Memoire. In: J. Lee & J.E. McIntosh & (2025). The Young Persons’ DOORS Handbook. Unpublished Manuscript. Relationships Australia, South Australia and The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University.

Kids’ DOORS

McIntosh, J.E., Bailey, A., Lee, J. & Ralfs, C. (2023). Kids’ DOOR 1: Supported self-report. In: A. Bailey, J.E. McIntosh, A. Booth, J. Lee, & C. Ralfs (2023). The Kids’ DOORS Handbook. Unpublished Manuscript. The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University and Relationships Australia, South Australia.

McIntosh, J.E., Bailey, A., Lee, J. & Ralfs, C. (2023). Kids’ DOOR 1: Supported screening (with traffic light rubric). In: A. Bailey, J.E. McIntosh, A. Booth, J. Lee, & C. Ralfs (2023). The Kids’ DOORS Handbook. Unpublished Manuscript. The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University and Relationships Australia, South Australia.

McIntosh, J.E., Bailey, A., Lee, J. & Ralfs, C. (2023). Kids’ DOOR 2: Practitioner Aide Memoire. In: A. Bailey, J.E. McIntosh, A. Booth, J. Lee, & C. Ralfs (2023). The Kids’ DOORS Handbook. Unpublished Manuscript. The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University and Relationships Australia, South Australia.

References

The Family Law DOORS framework:

McIntosh, J. E., & Ralfs, C. (2012a). The DOORS Detection of Overall Risk Screen Framework. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

The Family Law DOORS handbook:

McIntosh, J. E., & Ralfs, C. (2012b). The Family Law DOORS handbook. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

References

The DOORS Detection of Overall Risk Screen Framework

McIntosh, J. E., & Ralfs, C. (2012a). The DOORS Detection of Overall Risk Screen Framework. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

The Family Law DOORS handbook

McIntosh, J. E., & Ralfs, C. (2012b). The Family Law DOORS handbook. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.

Training

The Family DOORS online training program has been developed by the Australian Institute of Social Relations and is based on the Family Law DOORS Handbook.

To find out more about the authors of the Family Law DOORS Handbook click here.