It starts with tears of joy. It often ends with tears of anger, pain and fear.
We’re talking about marriage. About hopes. Dreams. Property. Children.
Especially, the children.
In fiscal year 2016, the state’s Probate and Family Court system took in 23,692 divorce and other domestic relations filings.
The Hampshire Probate and Family Court fielded 477 of them. In May of 2016, the court in Northampton began handling some of those cases in a new way, using a pilot project called the Family Resolutions Specialty Court.
The specialty court, thought to be the first of its kind in the country, is an excellent example of professionalism at its most efficient, most effective — and most kind.
The specialty court’s aim is deceptively simple: to help families in pain navigate their breakup with as little stress and strain as possible, collectively creating a lasting solution that everyone involved can accept. In particular, the founders hope the new process will reduce the collateral damage that children suffer when their parents fall out.
Modeled after an Australian court, Hampshire’s specialty court uses a team approach to tackle the issues and tamp down the emotions.
As Gazette reporter Emily Cutts wrote, “The specialty court looks at separation and custody as a series of problems to be solved with the help of a judge, a court probation officer, a family consultant, a child’s attorney and a mediator. If the parents can solve the problems on their own with the help of the team, Hampshire Probate Family Court Judge Linda Fidnick said, the chances are quite good they will have done it with very little conflict and will be happier with the decisions.”
The process is voluntary. Both parents must agree to use the alternative legal track, and either can withdraw at any time. They begin by completing an initial intake with a probation officer, followed by an in-depth interview with family consultant Deborah Roth-Howe. If the couple has children, the youngsters will be assigned their own attorney to focus on their needs.
Cutts reports that, so far, the specialty court has handled 10 cases, completed seven, and completed each more quickly than the traditional route. The amount of time allotted for a traditional divorce is 14 months; by creating an opportunity for collaboration instead of conflict, the specialty court process has been cutting that in half.
More important than speed, though, are other outcomes. It “really takes away that animosity, the anxiety, the stress of going to court,” said Probation Officer R.J. Waskiewicz. And, because the parents and children are making the decisions together (instead of relying on a “stranger in a robe” as Waskiewicz put it), they’re more likely to be satisfied.
Noelle Stern, judicial case manager, said that in traditional divorce cases, some families return again and again to the court to battle over custody issues. The new process, it is hoped, will reduce the number of those sad stories.
The team approach extends beyond individual cases to the court itself. It’s overseen by an advisory board that includes the Hampshire Probate and Family Court first justice and former first justice, the court’s chief probation officer, academics, executive directors of local social service agencies, local mental health professionals, and local attorneys, mediators and conciliators.
To date, the work done by the legal and mental health communities to devise the new process has cost next to nothing. Mediators with the specialty court have volunteered their services and Roth-Howe’s position has been funded for the first year by donations through ServiceNet. The hope is that, eventually, the specialty court’s record of success will support an appeal for funding from the Legislature and the executive office of the trial court system.
The estimate to fund a full-time family consultant and to compensate a child attorney for every case is a mere $153,000 annually.
The Family Resolutions Specialty Court is a beautiful example of people coming together to help other people whose relationships are falling apart. We applaud the effort. We applaud its goals. We applaud its methods. We applaud every single individual who has played a role in the specialty court’s development and operation.
When the court comes knocking at the state’s doors, asking for money to operate and expand the program, those doors should open wide.