PARENT EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN FAMILY COURTS: BALANCING AUTONOMY AND STATE INTERVENTION

This work considers how court‐connected parent education programs can assist parents to access dispute resolution processes that best suit their families’ needs, in a manner involving appropriately curtailed levels of state interference with parental autonomy. After reviewing traditionally accepted limits on state interference with family functioning, the increased concern for children's emotional well‐being, and data relating to one parent education program, the author concludes that providing mandatory “basic level” informational programs to all separating parents seeking access to the family law regime is a warranted level of state intervention. “Skills‐building” programs aimed at achieving demonstrably changed parental practices should be available on a voluntary attendance basis.     

FAMILY COURTS

Oregon has encouraged experimentation with family courts using the one family-one judge approach. At the First Annual Family Law Conference, sponsored by the Oregon Judical Department and the Oregon Family Law Advisory Committee, the author presented a keynote talk addressing the "ethical" issues raised by the use of comprehensive family courts. In this adaptation, the author places the concept of family courts in historical perspective and then assesses the rationale for them and the policy trade-offs involved, as well as possible procedural safeguards. Consolidated family courts using judical specialists dealing with multiple interrelated parties and integrating an array of social services appear to offer a better approach to related party cases. The author concludes that the benefits outweigh the speculative risks.     

CHILDREN'S LAWYERS IN CALIFORNIA FAMILY LAW COURTS

There simply is no dos-and-don'ts checklist that will address the myriad issues facing children's attorneys and eliminate the difficult questions that face them. Conscientious lawyering is the key to alleviating potential ethical culpability. This requires the commitment of significant time to learn about the child client and his or her special needs. Unique responses are often required to meet individual problems. Beyond that, attorneys for children are left to determine their own subjective criteria to guide their representation.¹
The child is a person, not an object of concern.²     

UNIFIED FAMILY COURTS

Much has been written about the potential success of unified family courts. Unified family court proponents share great optimism and enthusiasm for what they see as a solution to several of the problems facing court systems today. This enthusiasm should be applauded. As with any reform, however, unified family court advocates must stop to consider the possible drawbacks to the system that they propose; otherwise, they might end up with a system that is the same or worse than the one that they were attempting to fix. This article highlights several of the potential problems with unified family courts. It is not a condemnation of unified family courts per se; it is simply a suggestion that reformers proceed with their eyes open, taking time to consider the potential drawbacks of the unified family court system before using valuable resources for its implementation.     

UNIFIED FAMILY COURTS

Fragmented court systems are especially problematic for domestic violence victims because they typically are involved in more than one proceeding that stems from the same pattern of abuse. The proceedings are handled in different courts and before different judges, who are often unaware of these orders being issued in other proceedings. Consequently, conflicting orders are prevalent and the protection and needs of victims are often not met. A unified family court, on the other hand, provides one court with the subject-matter jurisdiction to handle all family-related matters and one judge to hear all cases that involve a single family, resulting in conflicting orders being issued less frequently. Additionally, the needs of victims are better served as a result of the services component. Given the fragmented state of the court systems in New York and Pennsylvania, United States; Alberta, Canada; and Australia, unified family courts should be implemented in each locality.     

MEDIATION PARENT EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN THE CALIFORNIA FAMILY COURTS

This article presents information about parent educational programs connected to court-based child custody mediation services in California. The educational content and methodologies most commonly practiced in California family court mediation services are discussed. In addition, new directions in parent education for mediation clients are described.     

STATE POLITICAL CULTURE AND SENTENCE SEVERITY IN FEDERAL DISTRICT COURTS

Previous studies have established a strong relationship between state politics and policies and have documented the role of state politics in the recruitment of federal judges. This study uses indicators of the political. policy, and socioeconomic characteristics of the American states to explain variance in the severity of sentences rendered in 1970 cases involving violation of the Selective Service Act. The findings reveal that a substantial proportion of the sentencing variation in these cases is associated with the political, policy, and socioeconomic environments of the state in which the case is adjudicated. Consistent with mast of the literature on state policy variance, it is found that the socioeconomic environment is a more effective predictor than either state politics or policy.     

A SURVEY OF UNIFIED FAMILY COURTS

The American Bar Association Coordinating Council on Unified Family Courts, with the assistance of Hofstra University's Center for Childre. Family and the Courts, recently conducted a survey of various courts and jurisdictions that either implemented or experimented with a unified family court structure. The purpose of the project was to get a sense of the state of unified family courts with the goal of building more support for the unified family court concept based on demonstrated effectiveness. The findings of the survey have been summarized in this article. The survey, survey data, and list of survey respondents can be found in the article's appendices.     

INVOLVING YOUTH IN THE DEPENDENCY COURT PROCESS: THE WASHINGTON STATE EXPERIENCE

In 2008, the Washington State legislature established a pilot program in four designated sites wherein youth ages twelve years and older had the right to (1) receive notice of all dependency hearings that involve them, (2) be present at such hearings, and (3) be heard personally. Pursuant to the legislation, upon request by the youth, the court participating in the pilot program is permitted to conduct an in‐chambers interview with the youth to determine his or her wishes regarding issues pending before the court. The legislation further required that the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Department of Social and Health Services collaborate in implementing and assessing the effectiveness of the program. This article details the development of the pilot program, its implementation, and evaluation results as of the date of this publication.     

A PRACTITIONER'S PERSPECTIVE ON UNIFIED FAMILY COURTS: CASE STUDIES

As a summary of simple examples demonstrating practical advantages of a family court, this article relates a few experiences from the perspective of a family law attorney who practices regularly in the Fulton County Family Division in Atlanta.     

REPORT FROM THE WINGSPREAD CONFERENCE ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND FAMILY COURTS

In February 2007 the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts brought together a working group of thirty‐seven experienced practitioners and researchers to identify and explore conceptual and practical tensions that have hampered effective work with families in which domestic violence has been identified or alleged. Five central sets of issues were raised at the conference and are discussed in this report. These include the following: differentiation among families experiencing domestic violence, screening and triage, participation by families in various processes and services, appropriate outcomes for children, and family court roles and resources. The report emphasizes the need for continued multidisciplinary collaboration in order to better serve families affected by domestic violence and it includes an appendix of consensus points as well as suggestions for formation of ongoing work groups.