EARLY INTERVENTION IN NEW ZEALAND FAMILY COURT CASES

In April 2010 the New Zealand Family Court introduced the National Early Intervention Process (NEIP) to diversify its previous unitary dispute resolution pathway into two tracks (standard and urgent). A “triage” model is now in use to assess and assign cases appropriately. This article outlines the key milestones in the Family Court's 30‐year history which have led to this new initiative to reduce delays and help avoid the escalation of family conflicts over the care of children into bitter and intractable disputes. NEIP represents the most overarching reform of the Family Court since the Court's inception in 1981.     

Public administration reform and the “new managerialism”: a comparative assessment of a fundamental challenge confronting canadian public administration

The “new managerialism” is becoming the new ortodoxy in public administration. It has challenged the classic assumptions about the nature of bureaucracy in democratic countries. However, it has not implied a great deal of serious debate. In Canada, it is challenging the model of constitutional bureaucracy around which public administration has been organized. Such a model involves two main principles: the ministerial Department and a neutral career public service. The former has meant that power flow in downward and responsibility and accountability upward (to the elected state authorities). The latter that, among other things, officials enjoy security of tenure in exchange for their willingness to serve governments of all partisan affiliations with equal loyalty and effectiveness. The new managerialism challenges both principles since it proposes to diffuse authority both horizontally and vertically, make accountabi1;ty run downward to “clients” and be more capable to substitute personell according to the needs of the moment. Since the new managerialism involves serious risks, the author ends up asking whether these two contending paradigms can or should be reconcilied, and warning not to overlook the past histories of Canadian and Western administrative and political institutions.     

Security of international civil aviation: The role of ICAO

Abstract

The International Civil Aviation Organization in the last twenty years has marshaled support of the overwhelming majority of its 150 member states in developing security programs and establishing a legal framework of international cooperation against terrorism in international aviation. The Tokyo Convention of 1963 establishes jurisdiction over offenses while an aircraft is in flight and grants a wide spectrum of powers to the aircraft commander to restrain a passenger. The Hague Convention of 1970 obliges states to punish the unlawful seizure of aircraft with severe penalties and to either extradite the offender or try him. The Montreal Convention of 1971 establishes a system of suppression of acts against aircraft, covering mostly acts on the ground that might endanger an aircraft in flight, and requires states to take practicable measures to prevent such offenses. In the past few years the number of countries adhering to these pacts and instituting improved security measures has increased significantly. Accompanying this trend has been a downward trend in acts of unlawful interference and seizure of aircraft to 147 in the 1978–1980 period compared to 245 in the 1969–1971 period. Nevertheless, only steadfast efforts by all nations can complete the job of eliminating unlawful interference with international civil aviation.     

Female victims of child sexual abuse: Adult adjustment

A questionnaire administered to a University sample of 245 female victims of sexual child abuse and 750 nonvictims attempted to determine whether abuse is related to poor adult social and psychological adjustment. The instrument consisted of three outcome measures of adjustment, variables directly related to abuse, perceived satisfaction with early family life, and demographic data. Only one of the outcome measures — the Texas Social Behavior Inventory — yielded a statistically significant difference between the samples. There was a steady, significant and progressive increase in maladjustment between the nonabused, the nonincestuously abused and the incest victims. When controls were applied for levels of satisfaction with early family life, differences between the abused and nonabused samples disappeared. Those abused as children who reported good treatment by parents exhibited no ill effects as adults on the TSBI.