Improving the family court response to custody cases and parenting decisions involving domestic violence so that resulting parenting arrangements protect the emotional and physical well-being of victimized parents and their children.
A commitment to improve litigants’ access to justice emerged as a goal for all four FCEP sites. In seeking to improve the system, the teams at each site...Read More
Hennepin was concerned that domestic violence survivors were pressured into participating in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes that may not be safe and without full information about their...Read More
Multnomah County has taken steps to increase the visibility of the Family Court Enhancement Project by making presentations about their activities and experiences at national and regional conferences....Read More
Like courts across the country, Cook County experiences a high percentage of self-represented litigants, which presents unique challenges when domestic violence is present. The site developed materials to...Read More
Cook County’s Domestic Violence Division is not a family court accustomed to making custody determinations, but instead a high-volume court hearing protection orders and domestic violence criminal matters....Read More
Delaware made significant changes to its process for obtaining protection from abuse (PFA) orders. First, they redecorated the resource center to make the court environment more welcoming, used...Read More
One challenge identified by Multnomah County was to improve the capacity of the court and court-related professionals to make informed recommendations and decisions regarding parenting time and custody...Read More
The team realized that domestic violence was going undetected in many cases. A subcommittee was tasked with finding and developing screening tools for court-related professionals. Early feedback on...Read More