Geoffrey Allen: Advances and challenges in the future of the Family Court

I recently retired as a Family Court commissioner (Juvenile Division) in Jackson County. I would like to make some predictions about the future of the Family Court.

The Juvenile Division serves young people who have been charged with the equivalent of misdemeanors and felonies and children who have been treated abusively or neglectfully by their parents or custodians. Three Family Court Commissioners (judicial officers appointed by the judges) and one Circuit Court judge carry between 400 and 900 cases each.

Each day the family court deals with the heartbreak of abuse, the fallout of drug use and numerous other problems that create dangerous environments for children. However, little has changed in the way cases are handled other than standards that speeded up the process and the creation of the family drug court, which has been quite successful.

One of the most obvious changes will involve the use of new technologies to protect children from physical and sexual abuse. Newly developed sensors will be able to detect when a child is being abused or left without supervision. Other technologies should determine when perpetrators of domestic violence are in violation of no-contact orders. The use of such technologies must, of course, be subject to scrutiny to insure that civil rights are not violated, but they can play a useful role in protecting children.

Another development is the use of software to predict the likely outcome of certain cases. This will benefit parents and help them determine the best course for reunification with their children. Such software will also guide the parties on how to best use available courtroom time.

Another prediction made previously has now come to fruition: the Missouri legislature in 2014 passed a law allowing the termination of parental rights of certain drug-using mothers when another child has previously been abused and the mother continues to use drugs during a subsequent pregnancy.

Currently, permanency for abused or neglected children must generally be accomplished within 12 to 15 months after being placed out of the parents’ custody. I predict that these time standards will be shortened by state and/or federal legislation in the near future to six to nine months. Emphasis on the child’s right to permanency will increase, consistent with the provision of intense services for parents to help them meet the guidelines.

Pre-natal paternity testing may shorten the time that a father has to assert paternity and claim the child as his own. It serves the interests of children and parents to have paternity determined as quickly as possible. Testing devices are available but not yet routinely used.

Advances in drug treatment have not come quickly enough to assist drug users in shedding the burden of addiction. New alternatives, including epigenetic treatments (switching on and off of genes), will eventually shorten the time needed to address drug addiction.

A mediation program helps parents and other parties amicably resolve cases and guides parents toward rapid reunification with their children.

These are just a few of the exciting possibilities that will make the protection of children and the reunification of families, as well as permanency for children who cannot return to a parent, a speedier and friendlier process.

I urge anyone wanting to become involved in the family court to seek volunteer opportunities as a mentor or as a child’s court-appointed special advocate, through the CASA organization.

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Geoffrey Allen: Advances and challenges in the future of the Family Court."