Interdisciplinary Practice in Family Court: A Judicial Perspective

• Date: 01 July 2018
• Published date: 01 July 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12362
• Author: Hon. Jane Pearl

INTERDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE IN FAMILY COURT: A JUDICIAL

PERSPECTIVE

1

Hon. Jane Pearl

This commentary emphasizes the windows of judicial opportunity to proactivelymanage family law cases, to empower fami-

lies, and to encourage interdisciplinary conferencing and settlement.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

•At the beginning of each case, judges are able to set a vital tone of deep respect for every person in the courtroom.

•Interdisciplinary case conferencing in custody and parental access cases will enhance a holistic emphasis on identify-

ing intersecting family strengths and challenges.

Keywords: Custody; FamilyLaw; Interdisciplinary Conferencing; Judges; JuvenileDelinquency; and Parental Access.

It is a poignant joy to be part of this issue’s commentary, which arose from a November

10, 2017, program that was dedicated to the momentous memory of Professor Herbie DiFonzo.

Professor Mosten heralds an inspirational, nonturgid glimpse into interdisciplinary matrimonial

practice that may enhance timely triage and informed parental consent in the service of reaching

resolutions that will enhance family strengths and cushion family vulnerabilities. Having previously

taught in medical school and having assisted in research in preventive medicine and public health,

at the risk of sounding sanguine, I note that many of Professor Mosten’s highlighted teamwork prin-

ciples in medical and mental health care remain as aspirations to date, to wit, an ongoing dialectic

between the ideal and the real.

I presently hail from Family Court in New York City, where we must take every interdisciplinary

lesson learned (and lessons being learned) from child protection, adoption, juvenile justice, family

violence, and so on, and segue such pearls of hope into a better resolution of child custody and

parental access disputes and the financial empowerment of families, postdissolution.

Notwithstanding my vantage of family court as constituting a legal emergency room, it is not oxy-

moronic to contemplate court-based encouragement of interdisciplinary triage and informed settle-

ment. Analogous to an opportunity for a judge to refer a court-filed juvenile delinquency case back

to probation for adjustment, a judge may refer parents to mediation to consider if that will provide a

pathway for informed consent. There are many judicial opportunities to proactively manage family

law disputes and assuage family tempests. I have the privilege to hear a variety of family law matters,

including complex custody and parental access cases, child neglect and abuse cases, adoption cases,

and juvenile delinquency cases (where youth under the age of sixteen are charged with acts that

would be criminal if they were over the age of sixteen—in October 2018, the age of adult criminal

responsibility will be raised to seventeen, and in October 2019, the age will be raised to eighteen).

At the very beginning of each case, judges are able to set a vital tone of deep respect for every per-

son in the courtroom, regardless of the nature of the dispute. We have open courtrooms in New York

so that extended family and friends come to court, as often do children in child neglect and abuse

cases. My custody and parental access cases are influenced by my child protective cases because

I have experienced countless times the angst felt by parents or other caregivers when the state

intervenes to protect children and, in doing so, infringes upon parents’rights and children’swishes.

Correspondence: hsingh@nycourts.gov

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 56 No. 3, July 2018 465–467

© 2018 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts