MAKING COURTS WORK FOR FAMILIES IN CRISIS.

Pointing to a survey released by the Legal Services Corp., Jerome J. Shestack, president of the American Bar Association, has called on judges, lawyers, and legislators to re-engineer the courts so that children and families in crisis can receive the help they need in an efficient, coordinated, and effective manner. The survey found that more than two-thirds of the 1,500,000 cases it handled in 1997 were for mothers with children seeking social and legal services. In more than 58,000 cases, the clients were children under the age of 18.

In most states around the country, a family in crisis sees a different judge in a different courtroom for every different legal need. A mother fleeing a violent home with her children might see one judge to get a protection order...