Where We Stand: An Analysis of America\u27s Family Law Adjudicatory Systems and the Mandate to Establish Unified Family Courts

The volume and scope of family law cases in contemporary American society, as well as their unending nature both individually and systemically, exacerbate the difficulty of their resolution. To address this crisis, the American Bar Association and others have recommended court reform, specifically, the establishment of unified family courts in all jurisdictions. A unified family court is a single forum within which to adjudicate the full range of family law issues, based on the notion that court effectiveness and efficiency increase when the court resolves a family\u27s legal problems in as few appearances as possible. The model is based on the concept that a court with a comprehensive view of all of a family\u27s legal problems can resolve issues more quickly and capably than can a system requiring the family to appear in several different tribunals for similar matters. This article evaluates how America\u27s courts currently adjudicate family law matters. The article provides a comprehensive overview of the results of a nationwide survey determining how each state handles family law matters. The survey results reveal variety and inconsistency in how America\u27s courts process family law cases, illustrating the need for a restructuring of the family legal system. Some problems noted by the study include conflicting jurisdiction among courts, unpredictable decision-making, a waste of judicial and litigant resources, successive appeals, and inefficient court administration. The article urges each state to conduct a comprehensive analysis of its existing family justice system. It advocates that reformers look to fundamental principles of unified family courts as a means to guide court reform efforts. States must acknowledge and live up to their responsibility to overhaul outdated and ineffective family justice systems

Fashioning an Interdisciplinary Framework for Court Reform in Family Law: A Blueprint to Construct a Unified Family Court

Family law cases focus on some of the most intimate, emotional, and all-encompassing aspects of parties\u27 personal lives. Based on its study of unmet legal needs of children and their families, the American Bar Association has recommended the establishment of unified family courts in all jurisdictions. This article evaluates how America\u27s courts adjudicate family law matters and advocates systemic change by offering an interdisciplinary ecological and therapeutic approach to the creation of unified family courts. The author presents a comprehensive overview of the results of her nationwide survey determining how each state\u27s courts handle family law matters. The results of her survey illustrate the need for a unified family court system in matters of family law. A five-part blueprint to construct a unified family court is proposed. First, the court should have a specialized structure with judges who fully understand the legal and social issues facing family law litigants. The specialized court should be at the same level as a trial court of general jurisdiction, and the court should receive the same resources and support as the generalist courts. Second, the court should have comprehensive subject-matter jurisdiction over the full range of family law matters. The third component is an efficient case management and case processing system with a one judge/one case approach. Fourth, the court must offer alternative dispute resolution services and other court-connected social services to the family. Finally, the unified family court should be user-friendly, accessible to participation by all, including the large proportion of pro se family law litigants. The author advocates that a unified family court is a justice system reform having the greatest potential to enhance family law decision-making, thereby improving families\u27 and children\u27s lives

A Truancy Court Program to Keep Students in School

Under Maryland law, [e]ach person who has legal custody or care and control of a child who is 5 years old or older and under 16 shall see that the child attends school... MD. Education Code Ann. Sect. 7-301 (c) 2006. The law also provides penalties for violations, as the legal custodian or caregiver who fails to see that the child attends school...is guilty of a misdemeanor, which could result in fines of $50 to$100 per day of unlawful absence and/or imprisonment for 10 to 30 days, depending on whether the conviction is a first or subsequent conviction. MD. Education Code Ann. Sect. 7-103(e)(2)(i)(i). Despite this legal imperative, however, the Baltimore City Public School System, which defines truancy as more than 20 days of unexcused absences, grapples with a truancy rate that consistently hovers around thirty percent. (Tom Pelton, City to Launch Anti-Truancy Effort, Balt. Sun, Aug. 14, 2003, at 3B.) This means that on any given day in Baltimore City, around 6000 of the system\u27s nearly 90,000 students are truant. Why is it important for a community to care about truancy rates, in comparison to more compelling issues, such as substance abuse and crime? High rates of truancy are linked to high daytime vandalism and burglary rates. Ramona Gonzales, Kinette Richards & Ken Seeley, Youth Out of School: Linking Absence to Delinquency, Colo. Found. for Fain. and Child. Sept. 2002, at 3 [hereinafter Gonzales]. The cyclical nature of truancy, meaning the more truant a child becomes, the more humiliating and futile school attendance becomes for the child, results in an increasingly greater reluctance to return to school

Where We Stand: An Analysis of America\u27s Family Law Adjudicatory Systems and the Mandate to Establish Unified Family Courts

The volume and scope of family law cases in contemporary American society, as well as their unending nature both individually and systemically, exacerbate the difficulty of their resolution. To address this crisis, the American Bar Association and others have recommended court reform, specifically, the establishment of unified family courts in all jurisdictions. A unified family court is a single forum within which to adjudicate the full range of family law issues, based on the notion that court effectiveness and efficiency increase when the court resolves a family\u27s legal problems in as few appearances as possible. The model is based on the concept that a court with a comprehensive view of all of a family\u27s legal problems can resolve issues more quickly and capably than can a system requiring the family to appear in several different tribunals for similar matters. This article evaluates how America\u27s courts currently adjudicate family law matters. The article provides a comprehensive overview of the results of a nationwide survey determining how each state handles family law matters. The survey results reveal variety and inconsistency in how America\u27s courts process family law cases, illustrating the need for a restructuring of the family legal system. Some problems noted by the study include conflicting jurisdiction among courts, unpredictable decision-making, a waste of judicial and litigant resources, successive appeals, and inefficient court administration. The article urges each state to conduct a comprehensive analysis of its existing family justice system. It advocates that reformers look to fundamental principles of unified family courts as a means to guide court reform efforts. States must acknowledge and live up to their responsibility to overhaul outdated and ineffective family justice systems

Another Look at the Need for Family Law Education Reform: One Law School\u27s Innovations

The pressing need to change family law education stems from increased numbers and types of family law matters before the courts, changing legal standards, and the evolution of family law practice. The Family Law Education Reform Project, the Families Matter Report, and the IAALS Family Bar Summit recommend that traditional family law education be supplemented to reflect the importance of a holistic blend of theory and practice. This involves expanding student clinical or experiential programs, incorporating interdisciplinary studies specific to the context of family law, and enhancing continuing legal education opportunities. As one law school example, the University of Baltimore School of Law has implemented many of these recommendations for students and practitioners

Editorial Notes: April 2017

This issue of Family Court Review (FCR) begins by honoring the life and memory of Ruth Stern, former Managing Editor of Family Court Review, who passed away in October, 2016. Her husband, Professor Herbie DiFonzo, offers glimpses into Ruth\u27s life and their life together. Coming from a baseball family myself, I am particularly moved by Ruth\u27s and Herbie\u27s mutual passion for the New York Mets. It is obvious from the details Herbie graciously shares that theirs was a love and a life of unique tenderness and togetherness. I am deeply grateful to Herbie for allowing us the privilege to publish this tribute to Ruth. The April 2017 issue consists of six articles and two law student notes. In this volume, we have initiated a practice discussed during the 2016 Editorial Board meeting at the AFCC Annual Conference in Seattle. From time to time, FCR editors and staff plans to publish articles longer than the standard twenty-five pages. By doing so, we hope to encourage the submission of additional scholarly articles from academics who, in lieu of submitting their articles to FCR, choose other professional publications that allow for documents of longer length. Thus, this is a call to our readers to encourage authors to submit articles to FCR that they heretofore may have submitted to other journals

Commentaries on the IAALS\u27 Honoring Families Initiative White Paper

Family courts are not likely to disappear, as they currently constitute the largest proportion of trial court filings in most states. It appears as though family courts have become an emergency room for family problems. Thus, we need to enhance our efforts to improve the family justice system. In order to revamp family courts most effectively, there must be a focus on the creation of unified family courts that are grounded in therapeutic jurisprudence and the ecology of human development. This framework allows for a more responsive and holistic approach to families\u27 legal and underlying nonlegal needs. The goal of a unified family court is to aim to improve the lives of families and children through judicial action, informal court proceedings, alternative dispute resolution, and the provision of appropriate social services. Key Points for the family Court Community: • The need for family court reform; • An underlying theoretical foundation to guide the family court reform process; • Employing therapeutic jurisprudence to ensure an outcome that can positively affect the lives of the families and children involved in each legal proceeding; • Utilizing the ecology of human development to assist with obtaining a holistic view of families\u27 legal and underlying nonlegal issues; • A blueprint to create a unified family court to provide an effective, efficient, comprehensive resolution to each family\u27s dispute