By Jillianne Trotter Crescenzi, CFCC Student Fellow, Fall 2020 When people think about lawyers and the criminal justice system, they often think about catch phrases like “Law and Order” and “You must be good at arguing.” Our paternalistic society has been groomed to interpret law through a “right” and “wrong” lens, with nothing in between,…
By Guest Author Matthew J. Sullivan Unified Family Courts Connection | Fall 2020 The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic—which engulfed the entire world like a brushfire out of control—has changed the practices of fam- ily courts and all the judges, attorneys and practitioners who help families traverse the court system. I work with parents in high-conflict, shared-parenting…
By Guest Authors Leslie Starr Heimov and Susan Abrams Unified Family Court Connection | Fall 2020 While the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought much of the world to a halt, child welfare professionals and juvenile courts around the country have struggled to balance the critical need to function with the risks of the virus.…
By Guest Author Ramona A. Gonzalez Unified Family Court Connection | Fall 2020 The courts in the United States were forced to close their doors this year for all but emergency cases as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) spread across the nation with more than six million confirmed cases and over 184,000 deaths by September 1, 2020.¹…
By Guest Author Annette Burns Unified Family Court Connection | Fall 2020 Little did family law attorneys know earlier this year that their counsel tables would be reduced to a 14-inch screen on a dining room table and everything about the practice of law would be reexamined, and altered to keep everyone healthy in the…
COVID-19 and the subsequent transition to distance learning across Baltimore City has created one of the most extreme and pervasive barriers to school attendance ever confronted by CFCC’s Truancy Court Program (TCP) Team. Without the ability to meet in person with students and families, the team has pivoted to virtual assistance and support. In recognition of the…
By Katherine S. Davis As I spread out the books on the desks for the 5th graders to look over during CFCC’s Truancy Court Program (TCP) session, I was sure of one thing – before I got very far, Malik* would be by my side eagerly looking for a new book to take home. This slight-framed,…