The Gazette’s story on the Family Resolutions Specialty Court (“Putting children first,” July 6) certainly detailed some of the advantages of this innovative system to resolve custody-related issues.
Aside from granting children more of a voice in court proceedings, the Family Resolutions Specialty Court also helps to reduce the adversarial nature of most court cases, which is always beneficial to the litigants and of course the children.
The Hampshire Probate and Family Court has a long and proud history of developing effective pilot programs, such as the Parents and Children in Transition, that were later adopted by the other probate and family courts in the commonwealth. It is very likely that the Family Resolutions Specialty Court will eventually be part of every probate and family court in the state, and eventually will also be handling divorce cases where there are no minor children involved. In most instances, it is simply a better way to handle cases.
Hampshire Probate and Family Court First Justice Linda Fidnick, Register Michael Carey, judicial case manager Noelle Stern, chief probation officer Pamela Eldridge and the entire staff of the Hampshire Probate and Family Court, as well as retired First Justice of the Hampshire Probate and Family Court Gail Perlman and attorney Kathleen Townsend, deserve a tremendous amount of credit for all their hard work and dedication in getting this very important program off the ground and running.
James Winston
Northampton