International judicial symposium on family court reform: Final report

On May 30, 2023, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) co-sponsored an international symposium to explore the subject of family court reform. Twenty-eight judges representing eight countries and including numerous North American states and provinces met in Los Angeles, California, to identify the most pressing challenges facing family courts and to document promising approaches to improve practice and outcomes in family court cases. They focused on domestic relations cases, as opposed to child welfare and juvenile justice matters. Prior to the symposium, participants responded to a survey about family court reform efforts in each participant's jurisdiction. Judicial officers attending the symposium represented diverse legal systems with some common and many different practices and challenges. After a day filled with small and large group discussions, participants identified key takeaways and made recommendations emanating from the day's discussions. Family court systems face tremendous challenges, including recruitment and retention of judges, high caseloads and backlog, increased numbers of self-represented litigants, heightened parent-child contact problems, many high conflict cases, and a lack of financial support to meet families' and children's needs for various services. Changes to family courts are necessary to improve outcomes for families and children and to inspire public trust and confidence in the family justice system. Eliminating the adversarial nature of family courts must be an overarching goal of family court reform. Existing judicial resources must be utilized more effectively. Efforts must be undertaken to enhance respect for the institution of the family court, including the need for cultural competence among judges and for awareness of unconscious and implicit bias. Appellate judges must have prior family law experience in order to render the most appropriate appellate decisions. Case management processes, such as early case conferencing, triage, binding settlement conferences, virtual conferences, focused hearings, chambers hearings, digitizing court processes, and hearing officers, can help alleviate some of the problems facing family courts. Family courts should use empirically validated court procedures and family law interventions, with the specific goal of helping families and children in court achieve outcomes that improve their lives as a result of family court involvement.