| Releases
& Statements
For Immediate Release:
March 4, 2007
Contact: Frank Sobrino
(646) 250-4322
Gotbaum
Proposes Additional Family Court Reforms
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum today
renewed her call to reform Family Court and proposed hiring more
judges as part of an effort to protect battered children entering
the court system from further abuse.
Expanding the number of Family Court
judges, Gotbaum said, will ease judges’ caseloads, enabling
them to give sensitive, complex cases needed time and attention.
It would also reduce scheduling conflicts and the need for adjournments,
which delay getting services to children and families in the child
welfare system.
The need for additional Family Court
judges has become particularly pressing with State Supreme Court
judges assigned on an emergency basis to Family Court recently
returning to their benches, adding to the strain on an already
overburdened system. The number of abuse and neglect proceedings,
however, has risen dramatically in the wake of the death of seven-year-old
Nixzmary Brown at the hands of her parents last year and a change
in State law requiring more frequent court proceedings. The State
has not raised the number of permanently assigned Family Court
judges—47—since 1991.
“In the wake of recent tragedies,
much of the focus has been on the work of caseworkers and their
supervisors,” Gotbaum said. “But the fragile lives
of some of our most vulnerable children also depend a great deal
on what goes on in our Family Courts and what we’re seeing
is a Family Court system in crisis.”
Gotbaum, who last week participated
in the Family Court Judge for a Day program, noted that four of
the five Family Courts in the city offer some evening hours to
accommodate working adults and in-school youth. She recommends
that all five courts offer evening hours five nights a week, which
would be made possible by hiring more judges.
The Public Advocate also recommended
that courts ensure every family and child involved in a proceeding
receive timely notification.
Gotbaum earlier focused attention
on the Family Court system in September when she released a study
that found overworked Administration for Children’s Services
attorneys often go into court inadequately prepared, potentially
exposing battered children to further danger.
In examining the Family Court operations
of ACS, Gotbaum found attorneys overwhelmed by their caseloads
but nonetheless performing administrative chores, such as faxing
and photocopying, because of a lack of support staff.
Attorneys with high caseloads and
little time to prepare for courtroom appearances are compelled
to request adjournments. These delays contribute to the exceptionally
lengthy stays in foster care in New York City. At 43.6 months,
the city’s average length of stay in foster care is more
than a year longer than the national average of 31 months. Requesting
adjournments, a fairly common practice, delays the provision of
services to children and families in the child welfare system.
While applauding the City for adding
$3.4 million to the ACS budget to hire more attorneys on the heels
of her report, Gotbaum reiterated her earlier recommendations.
To address the problems identified by the study, including the
staggering attrition rate among attorneys, Gotbaum said ACS needs
to:
· Have enough attorneys on
staff to keep individual caseloads at or below 50, as recommended
by the American Bar Association.
· Recruit and train new attorneys
on an ongoing basis to fill vacancies swiftly.
· Hire skilled paralegals and
support staff to help ease attorneys’ workloads.
· Create a loan repayment program
to help attorneys pay off their law school debt, making it financially
viable for attorneys to remain at ACS.
Gotbaum believes that easing the caseload
burdens of Family Court attorneys and judges is essential to achieving
meaningful and lasting reform of the City’s long-troubled
child welfare system.
“Family Court is an often overlooked,
but nonetheless vitally important element of the child welfare
system,” Gotbaum said. “The stakes are too high and
the potential for tragedy too real to continue letting the Family
Court system be overwhelmed.”
The Public Advocate also recently
recommended creating an independent Office of the Child Advocate,
similar to offices in other states, to oversee the entire child
welfare system, including Family Court. The office would have
subpoena power to investigate any matter related to child welfare,
including the work of contract agencies.
Since becoming public advocate, Gotbaum
has repeatedly called on the City to improve child welfare services.
In 2004, her review of child fatalities led to the discovery that
a disproportionate number of children in the homeless shelter
system were dying. She introduced legislation requiring the Department
of Homeless Services to post signs reminding shelter staff of
their reporting responsibilities. The bill, signed into law in
2005, also required the agency to post signs in its family shelters
noting the proper sleeping position for infants.
The Family Court Judge for a Day program
in which Gotbaum participated was sponsored by LIFT (Legal Information
for Families Today), a non-profit dedicated to empowering families
and children with knowledge of their rights and responsibilities
so that they may successfully navigate the legal system.
* * *
|
