A Process Evaluation of a Kentucky Court Improvement Initiative

• Author: R. Corey Boes,Crystal Collins‐Camargo,Tammi A. Thomas
• Date: 01 July 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12237
• Published date: 01 July 2016

A PROCESS EVALUATION OF A KENTUCKY COURT

IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE

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Tammi A. Thomas, Crystal Collins-Camargo, and R. Corey Boes

This article describes a court improvement initiative designed to promote uniformity andimproved court practice with the ulti-

mate goal of the improvement of outcomes for children and families. The article focuses on the results of interviews and focus

groups conducted as part of the evaluation of this initiative. Twelve jurisdictions were purposively selected to exhibit a range

of family court and non–family court jurisdictions in rural and middle-sized locations. The discussion of the qualitative results

focuses on changes in court practice and the impact of the initiative on case time.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

This initiative was undertaken to promote consistency of practice in family law matters.

We explain how the rules impact the following areas: divorce; property distribution as a result of divorce; custody, vis-

itation, and child support; adoption; termination of parental rights; domestic violence, child abuse, and neglect; and sta-

tus offenses.

We describe the impact of a state-wide court improvement initiative.

We identify areas of improvement within court operations that may be modified in other jurisdictions.

Keywords: Court Improvement; Court Practice; Family Court; Rules of Procedure and Practice; and Unified Court.

INTRODUCTION

In Kentucky, the judicial system comprises circuit court, family court, and district court. Circuit court

is the court of general jurisdiction of which family court is a division hearing cases such as divorce, ter-

mination of parental rights and adoption. District court is the court of limited jurisdiction handling such

cases as juvenile, domestic violence and child maltreatment matters. The state comprises 120 counties

and 59% (71) have a family court. In the remainder, circuit and district courts handle family court mat-

ters. Because of its organization, Kentucky has what is referred to as a unified court system.

Family law cases are governed by unified civil rules and local court rules which vary by jurisdic-

tion. Many jurisdictions do not have local rules specific to family law cases. A divorce case in one

county may not follow the same process and procedure as that in another county. In unified court sys-

tems, consistency across jurisdictions is desired. Standard rules of procedure and practice are

designed to address many problems the court system faces.

The federal Court Improvement Program (CIP) is intended to improve practice related to child

welfare-related court matters. State court systems receive grants “to conduct assessments of their fos-

ter care and adoption laws and judicial processes, and to develop and implement a plan for system

improvement” (Children’s Bureau, 2012, para. 1). Courts are encouraged to work collaboratively

with their State Court Improvement Program to facilitate improvement of service delivery that pro-

motes timely permanency achievement for children. A 2005 CIP Reassessment and subsequent Ken-

tucky Court Improvement Evaluation Report both noted inconsistency across jurisdictions as a

significant concern in need of improvement (Collins-Camargo, 2005, 2008).

Some states have begun to tackle the problem of lack of court uniformity. Arizona focused its

efforts on juvenile courts specifically in the area of child abuse and neglect by revising state statutes

Correspondence: Tammi.thomas@louisville.edu, Cecoll02@louisville.edu, Rcboes01@louisville.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 54 No. 3, July 2016 413–423

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C2016 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts