This link is to the University of Baltimore's School of Law Center for Families, Children and the Courts. You might find information on the family court system there, I just got it off of my brochure. Yesterday, I attended the first ever Utah Family Impact Seminar. The topic was about family courts. A Senior Fellow came from the University of Baltimore and talked about family court systems. Other presenters were of the opinion that Utah is already doing a good job of serving families in it's juvenile and district court systems. What do you think about family courts vs. juvenile or district courts?
Some of the discussion included:
Due Process (services being provided when fault has not yet been proven)
Specialization (A judge who is specialized in divorce and property distribution having to then serve a child abuse case)
"Back to the Future" (Is this just going back to the way things were and bringing that to present day or taking it to the future)
Number of judges a family will end up going to
Cost of services (therapy) and should those be provided by the state or the private sector
What other advantages or disadvantages do you see?
I remembered some other discussion points:
ReplyDeletejudges might have opposing views (one case was mentioned, a father was denied visitation from one judge and allowed visitation from another)
1 team/1 family
more communication between judges is needed
education of judges and attorneys
need for improvement of communication between judges and attorneys
The importance of informing families about the case and what is going on
In my old life I used to accompany women to both family court and CFS (Child and Family Services) court in California. No matter how amicable the proceedings were this had to be one of the worst moments of most peoples lives. California has seperate "family" courts so only a small handful of judges hear family cases in each county. This is a good thing because they often become familiar with a case (especially when there is a lot of he said/she said going on. They are also very familiar with family law and are good about keeping the children central to the case. The down side is that all family court matter are heard on a certain day of the week. Once someone has their court date they go and pack into a court room with numerous other people, your wait for your name to get called and when it does you go up and it is all over pretty quickly. It is confusing and chaotic. The other piece is that in California everyone with children is sent to mediation first. Your initial mediation occurs at the initial court date and the mediator taked both parties out into the hall (no lawyers allowed) and they make a visitation agreement for the children. This too is a chaotic expereince and the mediator has full control.
ReplyDeleteOverall there are pros and cons to the family court system. Just thought I would share having expereinced it first hand.
Thanks for your comment Meagan. That was an interesting inside look. I like the focus on the children. It sounds like there needs to be some reorganization. One day for all the cases in a week sounds bazaare! Do you know - If a family has to return, would they get the same judge? The mediators have a huge role and need to know about the family in order to help arrange good (healthy) visits. Something that came up in the Family Impact Seminar was that many times the family goes through the process uninformed. Your position was probably helpful, so you could tell them what to expect and they could go prepared. I wonder how different juvenile or district courts are. Anyone know?
ReplyDeleteInteresting concepts discussed. It does sound like a family court system might be helpful, but that just separating family courts from the ordinary courts isn't a glowing fix-all.
ReplyDelete