October 2014

• Author: Robert E. Emery,Andrew Schepard
• Published date: 01 October 2014
• Date: 01 October 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12111

EDITORIAL NOTES

OCTOBER 2014

REFLECTIONS ON WHERE WE ARE AND WHERE WE WANT TO GO

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” From Socrates’ speech at his trial as quoted in Plato’s

Apology.

This Special Issue is Socratic in that it encourages us to reflect on the current status and the future

direction of the institution that we serve—the family court—and the parents and children who bring

their problems to it. The commentaries build on dialogues begun in earlier issues and, we hope, will

generate even more dialogue in the future. We encourage readers to respond with commentaries of

their own, which we will consider for publication in future issues.

THE FUTURE OF COURT SERVICES

Linda Fieldstone describes how court services for parents can remain essential and vibrant in a time

of budget cuts and increasing caseloads. Collaboration and innovation are her keys to survive and

thrive in our current complex environment. For those not familiar with her, Linda is a past president

of AFCC and long-time supervisor of FamilyCour t Services in the Dade County (Miami) courts. She

thus knows whereof she writes.

THE BEST INTERESTS OF CHILDREN OF UNMARRIED PARENTS:A COMMENT ON

THE AFCC THINK TANK ON SHARED PARENTING

Solangel Maldonado continues the dialogue of our April issue about shared parenting and empiri-

cal research. Solangel is a law professor at Seton Hall LawSchool who has written widely about issues

of children, divorce, and separation. It is a pleasure to welcome her to FCR with her thought-

provoking essay, which we invited her to contribute.

Solangel asks the question of how well the AFCC Think Tank Final Report1on shared parenting

and empirical research addressed the needs of children of unmarried parents. Her answer is “not well

enough,” which is a problem because the children of unmarried parents are an increasing part of the

population of our family courts. She identifies key policy issues that the family court community

needs to address to better meet the needs of unmarried parents and children. One particularly useful

focus is Solangel’s reminder of the link between family and child poverty and postseparation

parenting arrangements, an issue not addressed in the Report.

THE FUTURE OF THE FAMILY COURT: COMMENTS ON THE WHITE PAPER OF

THE INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM’S

(IAALS) HONORING FAMILIES INITIATIVE (HFI) ON THE COURT AND

SEPARATING AND DIVORCING FAMILIES

In July 2013 FCR published a White Paper written by the IAALS HFI.2(One of us (Andy) is a

coauthor of the White Paper and a consultant to the HFI). The White Paper describes trends in

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 52 No. 4, October 2014 623–626

© 2014 Association of Familyand Conciliation Cour ts