Family court resources

Relevant Articles

Michael A. Town, The Unified Family Court: Therapeutic Justice for Families and Children 1 (Mar. 11, 1994) (transcript available in the Chicago Bar Association Building) 

• ”How deeply into the domestic realm can or should government go when it intervenes in the lives of families and children? Conversely, what is government’s duty to families and children who are in legal and social distress? These political and philosophical questions still bedevil public officials in America today. Yet when society chooses to intervene, it must be done well and there must be accountability.

Alicia Summers & Corey Shdaimah, One Family, One Judge, No Continuances, 64 Juv. & Fam. Ct. J. 35, 41 (2013).

• The authors found that for every two additional judges involved in a case, the number of continuances increased by one and that judicial continuity can be an effective way to improve case efficiency.

Hon. Michael A. Town, The Unified Family Court: Preventative, Therapeutic and Restorative Justice for America's Families, at http:// www.preventivelawyer.org/main/default.asp?pid=essays/town.htm (last visited Sept. 23, 2024)

• "By supporting a unified family court for families and children that is not only fair and effective, but therapeutic, restorative, preventive and mission driven, society begins to hold itself accountable for the well being of these families and children in distress."

Other Relevant Resources

University of Baltimore’s Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Court

• The center advocates the use of therapeutic jurisprudence, the understanding that the law has an effect on behavior, emotions and mental health. The center supports a holistic approach to problem-solving in family law matters.