{"id":548,"date":"2015-09-24T15:43:57","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T15:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubaltlawcfcc.wordpress.com\/?p=548"},"modified":"2015-09-24T15:43:57","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T15:43:57","slug":"families-and-access-to-the-family-justice-system-a-look-forward-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/2015\/09\/24\/families-and-access-to-the-family-justice-system-a-look-forward-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Families and Access to the Family Justice System: A Look Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charisse Lue,\u00a0CFCC Student Fellow 2015-2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is now over 17 years since Maryland Rule 16-204 established the Maryland Family Division.[1<\/a>]\u00a0 Rule 16-204 not only gave the Family Division subject\u2013matter jurisdiction over issues like divorce, adoption, custody, and child protection, but it was also an acknowledgment by the court system that Maryland families needed more than just adjudicatory services.\u00a0 As stated in the mission statement, the Maryland Family Division now recognized that the court system needed to \u201cmake available appropriate services for families who need them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 1999, the Family Division has been providing services that address legal and non-legal issues to the families and children of Maryland.\u00a0 For example, the court provides families access to parenting classes, as well as family mediation to address issues related to child support and divorce. The Family Division also makes referrals to anger management as an alternative to criminalizing family disputes. \u00a0The family justice system now implements a holistic, therapeutic \u00a0approach to family issues by implementing programs such as Juvenile Drug Court, parent coordination, and referrals for addiction assessment and treatment, all while preserving the rule of law and functioning as a court of law.<\/p>\n

Now that it has been 17 years since the creation of the Family Division, the Department of Family Administration of the Administrative Office of the Court, in partnership with the University of Baltimore School of Law Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts,[2<\/a>] is taking a look-back through empirical data and testimonials to continue to achieve the Family Division\u2019s goal of \u201cimproving the lives of families and children who appear before court.\u201d \u00a0Currently, 43% of civil cases in Maryland are under the family court\u2019s jurisdiction.\u00a0 The CFCC Student Fellows recently toured the Baltimore City Family Division and learned that there are crucial staff positions unfilled, like a Parent Coordinator and Social Services Coordinator.\u00a0 Moreover, many of the positions which are filled, like the Family Law Coordinator, often manage a caseload of hundreds of cases.\u00a0 The family justice system has to balance the realities of cost with its goals and mission, which includes access to legal and non-legal remedies.<\/p>\n

Some have advocated for a court rule for Limited License Legal Technicians to provide legal access to low income families at a reduced price.\u00a0 This could potentially reduce costs for litigants, families and, of course, the court system by providing limited legal services to pro se and low income families before the court.\u00a0 For example, they could assist litigants in filling out legal forms, review and explain pleadings, and explain court procedures. \u00a0As we look forward and discover methods of improving the Family Division for the next 17 years, perhaps using cost effective legal assistance from Limited License Legal Technicians and other new possibilities should be considered.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> http:\/\/www.baltocts.state.md.us\/divisions\/family.html<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> http:\/\/law.ubalt.edu\/centers\/cfcc\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charisse Lue,\u00a0CFCC Student Fellow 2015-2016 It is now over 17 years since Maryland Rule 16-204 established the Maryland Family Division.[1]\u00a0 Rule 16-204 not only gave the Family Division subject\u2013matter jurisdiction over issues like divorce, adoption, custody, and child protection, but it was also an acknowledgment by the court system that Maryland families needed more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}