April 2022

• Published date: 01 April 2022
• Author: Barbara A. Babb,Marsha Kline Pruett
• Date: 01 April 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12633

EDITORIAL NOTE

APRIL 2022

Welcome to the April issue of Family Court Review. Before we discuss the contents of this issue, we call your atten-

tion to Wiley's New Journal Design, debuted in the January 2022 issue of FCR, which we hope you have noticed and

have appreciated. The new article format improves readability, including font selection, line spacing, footnotes for

legal articles, and highlighted information (abstracts, key words, key points, author biographies, etc.), among other

changes. From the publication side, New Journal Design reduces turnaround times with authors and decreases error

rates. The revised format allows for prompt publication and permits faster Early View times, so that articles are

posted online soon after they are formatted. Thus, New Journal Design benefits both readers and authors. Please let

us know your thoughts, as we welcome your feedback!

This April issue of FCR heralds a spring whose typical “opening up”of longer, brig hter days and greener

pastures is not echoed in the continued lockdown that inhibits a return to “normal”in many parts of the world.

Although we seem to be emerging from the worst of COVID-19 and its variants, it has changed daily life as

swiftly and dramatically as only pandemics and large scaletragediescando.Withit,wehavediscoveredvulner-

abilities and resilience embedded in the family law system, including innovative responses to challenges

highlighted and deepened by the pandemic. This April special issue, co-edited by Amy Applegate, Alexandra

Crampton, and Barbara Glesner Fines, captures the changes court systems and programs have made in

response to COVID-19, especially in terms of the provisionofonlineservices.Theninespecialissuearticles

focus on the increased turmoil, within many countries, faced by a) parents who wish to separate and who have

no court and fewer resources in the community on which to rely, b) divorcing spouses whose incomes have

decreased substantially and suddenly, and c) individuals who experience intimate partner violence at home, to

offer key examples. The special issue editors have chosen articles that examine the international problems in

family law with compassion, while demonstrating positive changes resulting from adaptations made within and

in conjunction with the legal system. From protection orders, to hearings, to special masters, to advocacy ser-

vices, to parenting programs - this special issue identifies solutions in response to the challenges posed by the

pandemic. It does not ignore the difficulties ahead, but it maintains a hopeful perspective.

Three student notes round out the April issue, all advocating for children's access to services to support

their education, health, and economic security. In “It's 3:00PM, Do You Know Where Your Children Are? New

York's Inadequate Use of Federal Funds That Have Led to the Continuance of Childcare Deserts,”Kayla Marie

GriffincallsattentiontohowfederaldollarsavailableforchildcareinNewYorkgetusedinotherwaysdueto

ambiguous criteria for spending those funds. This action leaves a majority of families devoid of childcare

options.

Madison Hays turns our attention to a particularly vulnerable group of minors, those with intellectual and devel-

opmental disabilities who are placed in the juvenile justice system as offenders. In “Tasteless Confinement of Juve-

niles with I/DD: How to Keep Juvenile Offenders with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Out of

Confinement,”Hays offers a model to identify such minors and to provide preventive services that reduce economic

costs to society. More importantly, these services offer opportunities for skill development that can increase positive

outcomes for the youth and can reduce their risks of recidivism.

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12633

© 2022 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

Family Court Rev. 2022;60:161–162. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 161