Integration of Child and Family Legal Proceedings: Court Structure, Statutes, Rules, and Literature (From Families in Court: A National Symposium, P 1-51, 1989 -- See NCJ-120234)

• NCJ Number: 120237
• Author(s): H T Rubin; G Gallas
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 51 pages
• Grant Number(s): 88-02B-C-034
• Sponsoring Agency: State Justice Institute
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Conference Material
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For microfiche, see NCJ-120234.

Annotation

This paper suggests that State court systems need to improve their integration of child and family case proceedings in order to reduce their own contribution to the fragmentation of the family.

Abstract

Although individual families may be engaged in several court actions, only 11 States and the District of Columbia maintain a single court for the six case types examined: juvenile delinquency, status offense, and dependency, neglect, and abuse; divorce; paternity/child support; adoption; domestic violence protection order; and intra-family misdemeanor offenses. This situation has a negative impact on the integration of case handling. Yet even when the organization of a family court division in the general jurisdiction trial court is achieved, as in the "unified court" States, meaningful case coordination is generally not attained. Rules and statutes offer another formal solution to the court's fragmentation of the family, however, there is no research as to their effectiveness in increasing the integration of family-related cases. Rigorous and comparative examination of case integration issues in States that have unified trial courts, in States that provide coordinating rules and statutes, and in States where there is no formal procedure for integrating case handling is called for. 1 map, 7 tables, 8 footnotes, 1 appendix.