October 2020

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12520
• Date: 01 October 2020
• Published date: 01 October 2020
• Author: Barbara A. Babb,Marsha Kline Pruett

EDITORIAL NOTE

OCTOBER 2020

When we wrote the July 2020 Editorial Note in early May, little did we know, despite the fact

that we mentioned “viral health challenges”toward the conclusion of our piece, that COVID-19

would continue to ravage the world at such an overwhelming pace and volume. Now, at the end of

July and as we write the October 2020 Editorial Note, over 16 million people worldwide have con-

tracted the deadly virus. Life has changed for everyone as we adjust to the new abnormal. All of us

on the Family Court Review editorial staff, along with the entire FCR Editorial Board, hope that

you and your loved ones have remained safe and well.

We are grateful to bring you this issue filled with “specials.”The majority of the articles focus

on dependency courts, a special issue guest edited by Kelly Browe Olson, Philip Stahl, and Rebecca

Stahl. We also offer two shorter special features. The first is on nonmarriage, a section of two

papers guest edited by Albertina Antognini, Naomi Cahn, and Kaiponanea Matsumura. The second

shorter feature is an article related to COVID-19. The issue also includes three peer-reviewed arti-

cles, two student notes, and the submission by the winner of the 2020 Family Law Writing

Competition.

Regarding the special issue subject, dependency courts in the United States handle child abuse

and neglect cases, along with related issues, such as status offenses, termination of parental rights,

and adoption. Those among our readership who are proponents of unified family courts conceive

of dependency cases as handled within the subject-matter jurisdiction of the UFC. In those locali-

ties where there is no integrated approach to processing family law matters, however, dependency

courts often function as their own freestanding system, with little or no connection to other family

justice issues that may involve those same families interacting with the child welfare system.

Regardless of the overall structure of the family justice system, the articles comprising this special

issue on dependency courts are highly relevant. We are very grateful to Kelly Browe Olson, Philip

Stahl, and Rebecca Stahl for suggesting the topic, soliciting the expert authors, and coordinating

this monumental effort. Their Guest Editors’Introduction/Guest Editorial sets the stage for and

positions each of the articles in this compilation. We offer our heartfelt and deepest gratitude to

the special issue editors, who have worked tirelessly during the coronavirus onslaught to bring

you this important contribution to the scholarship surrounding dependency courts. We hope that

this special issue may encourage others among our readership to submit articles to FCR related to

dependency courts.

Our first special feature, nonmarriage, is the second such special feature on the topic, the

first having appeared in the January 2020 issue of FCR. The two articles in this section emanate

from the second Nonmarriage Roundtable, held in February, 2020, at the University of Arizona

James E. Rogers College of Law. The guest editors, Albertina Antognini, Naomi Cahn, and

Correspondence: bbabb@ubalt.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 58 No. 4, October 2020 867–869, doi: 10.1111/fcre.12520

© 2020 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts