Introduction to the Special Issue: Advocating for and Managing Resources that Enhance Access to Justice for Court‐Involved Families

• Date: 01 October 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12444
• Author: Pamela Cardullo Ortiz
• Published date: 01 October 2019

SPECIAL ISSUE: ACCESS TO JUSTICE

INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE: ADVOCATING FOR AND

MANAGING RESOURCES THAT ENHANCE ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR

COURT-INVOLVED FAMILIES

Pamela Cardullo Ortiz

Those lacking access to justice face real problems with legal consequences. Without knowledge,

support, or representation, individuals are unable to exercise their rights to the protections, privi-

leges, and opportunities available to them under the law.

1

For families in conflict, a lack of access

to justice may mean parents or children are unable to assert their right to financial support; it may

mean their safety is compromised as conflicts remain unresolved; and children may be deprived of

time with a parent, and parents of the privilege and responsibility of parenting and caring for a

child.

Providing access to justice, it turns out, requires more than a strictly legal solution. Rebecca San-

defur has called the access-to-justice crisis a “crisis of exclusion and inequality, for which legal ser-

vices will sometimes provide a solution.”

2

People experience justice problems—a need for

resolution that may require addressing their unmet legal needs; in some instances, though, it may

require a broader attention to people’s needs generally.

3

This Special Issue of Family Court Review is dedicated to enhancing access to justice for fami-

lies. Several articles focus specifically on how courts and legal providers can equalize the resources

available to those who face barriers in addressing their civil legal needs. Other articles focus on the

way courts work and the impact court processes can have on how justice is administered. This issue

also investigates how courts, providers, and practitioners can gain a broader perspective on the

impact of their work by embracing a rigorous approach to family law research.

To the extent that access to justice derives from unequal access to resources, those interested in

enhancing access to justice must apply their energies to advocating for resources. This is not news

to courts, civil legal aid providers, and family practitioners, all of whom struggle with how best to

use limited resources to serve families in conflict. Courts facing increasing numbers of the self-

represented must determine how best to invest public dollars. Civil legal aid providers are constantly

asked to help more individuals with fewer resources. Individual family law practitioners, too, are on

the front line of resource scarcity—trying to find ways to serve clients who need help but can rarely

afford to engage them for the duration of extended litigation.

In her article, “Reducing Domestic Violence and Improving Outcomes for Children: Funding

Civil Legal Aid to Maximize Impact,”Casey Chiappetta takes the resource challenge head-on,

highlighting how legal aid can improve outcomes for adult and child survivors of domestic violence

and child abuse. She goes beyond the data to spotlight how state-administered federal funding pro-

grams can be used to direct needed resources to support civil legal aid in this area to benefit fami-

lies and children. Chiappetta is a research associate with the Justice in Government Project at the

Justice Programs Office in the School of Public Affairs at American University. There, she works

under the direction of Karen Lash, a former Obama administration Justice Department appointee

Corresponding: pamela.ortiz@mdcourts.gov.

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 57 No. 4, October 2019 462–464

© 2019 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts