Why Medical Child Support is Important—and Complex

Courts resolving child support cases involving separated, divorced, and non‐marital children are charged with defining responsibility for health care coverage for the children under that order. This article explores historical and current medical child support requirements under Title IV‐D of the Social Security Act—the national child support enforcement (“IV‐D”) program. It analyzes legal requirements and policy recommendations, and provides a practical tool judges may use to determine whether health care coverage available to either or both parents is appropriate—that is, comprehensive, accessible, and affordable.     

A Judicial‐Mental Health Partnership to Heal Young Children in Juvenile Court

In this article, we describe the background and issues to be addressed related to dependent children in juvenile court. In an important effort to systematically examine developmental functioning and treatment needs in maltreated and violence‐exposed young children, the Prevention and Evaluation of Early Neglect and Trauma (PREVENT) initiative of the Dependency Court Intervention Program for Family Violence, a national demonstration project in the Miami‐Dade Juvenile Court, developed a program to evaluate all infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who are adjudicated dependent by the court. The goal of the intervention is to raise awareness of the needs of infants and toddlers in juvenile court and to work toward healing the child. The PREVENT program involved the evolution of a judicial‐mental health partnership designed to assist the court in making more informed decisions about the best interest of the child by adding scientific knowledge about development, prevention, intervention, evaluation, and treatment. The outcome of the partnership and multidisciplinary approach is illustrated through presenting a case vignette of a mother and baby showing the challenges and strengths of intervention. Finally, we consider overall outcomes of the intervention and directions for the future.     

Posttraumatic stress disorder in murderers

Three case histories of men who suffered posttraumatic stress disorders after committing homicides are presented. These men were relatively young and had chaotic childhoods and minimal criminal histories. Each had killed a woman with whom he had a significant but intensely turbulent emotional relationship. The killings all occurred during altered mental states that were unrelated to the use of drugs or alcohol. The clinical significance and some of the medicolegal implications of this phenomenon are discussed.     

Legal Disciplinary Practices – Who Needs Them?

The recent publication of the government's Review of the Regulatory Framework for Legal Services in England and Walesin March 2004 heralds a new era regarding the way in which legal services are to be delivered to the public. In the wake of the Enron-Arthur Andersen debacle, and growing disenchantment amongst policy-makers and market players with the involvement of 'elite' accountancy firms in the provision of legal services, interest and attention has now shifted away from the formation of Multi-Disciplinary Practices towards a new model of legal services provider– Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs), where the focus is at all times on the provision of legal services, albeit widely defined. The purpose of this article is to explore, and subsequently critique, the rationales behind the formation of LDPs and to outline the dangers which the provision of legal services through such business structures is likely to pose not only for the legal profession, but also for society more generally.     

MEDIATION IN CHILD PROTECTION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

The child protection mediation or case conference–implemented under the new Child, Family, and Community Services Act–is a mandatory conference in British Columbia that attempts to provide a plan of care for the apprehended child or children through a combined cooperative effort of parents, social workers, their respective counsel, parties that have an interest in the child's welfare, and the mediation judge. It is also a process that undertakes to counter the adversarial effects of trial where the potential for conflict is great and seeks to achieve the spirit of building solutions through cooperation for the continued care of the child. A year later, the results look encouraging, as two thirds of cases settle and, in British Columbia, unlike any other province, the case conference is made available in every community where court is held.