Association Issues Study on Family Court Services
New 58-page report examines family services in NYC’s five boroughs

Family law cases are ever more sensitive and complex, owing to the fact that litigants, in addition to their legal problems, frequently face numerous non-legal problems, such as poverty, substance abuse and mental health problems. Court-connected services are now an integral part of most Family Courts around the nation for they enable the court to address these underlying but equally important aspects of a family law case.

In an effort to present the breadth and depth of services available in New York City , as well as the challenges facing service providers, the New York City Bar Association, through its Committee on Family Court and Family Law, has issued a new report titled “Report on Family Court Services.” It is now available on the Home Page of the Association’s Web site: www.nycbar.org.

“We hope this report will serve as a resource for judges, court personnel and family court practitioners as to what services are available for families in New York City’s family courts,” said Committee Chair Judith D. Moran. “We also hope to demonstrate how these providers interface with one another, if at all, and whether the range and scope of services available is consistent among the county courthouses.”

The need to make these essential resources easily accessible to people who must navigate the courthouses was another reason for undertaking the report, said Moran. In preparation for the study, her committee conducted a survey of court-connected services in each of the city’s five Family Court courthouses located in the Bronx , Brooklyn , Manhattan , Queens and Staten Island . The report describes the services offered by each provider, the background of staff members (including their professional experience and training), the source(s) of each organization’s funding and the scope of its work.

It also includes a study undertaken by law students in the Family Defense Clinic at New York University School of Law, who were overseen by their professor and a committee member. It chronicles the students’ experiences during visits to each of the city’s Family Court courthouses. “This study sheds light on the family court experience from a litigant’s perspective and contains the students’ recommendations based upon their findings,” said Moran.

The final draft of the report was circulated for comment to the Administrative Judge, Joseph M. Lauria, and the Supervising Judges of the New York City Family Court system. “We very much appreciated their careful attention and thoughtful feedback,” said Moran. “We incorporated many of the comments we received and we are encouraged that the court has taken steps to begin implementing some of our recommendations.”

Bound hard copies of the report will be circulated to all Family Court judges, referees and magistrates.

About the Association
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York (www.nycbar.org) was founded in 1870, and since then has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the profession, promoting reform of the law, and providing service to the profession and the public.

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