SUPREME COURT COMMITTEE ON
FAMILIES AND CHIILDREN IN THE COURT (FCC)
Monday, October 23, 2006
Florida Supreme Court Building
M I N U T E S
Members present:
Judge Nikki Ann Clark, Chair Mr. Darryl Olson
Judge David Gooding Ms. Angela Orkin
Judge Hugh Hayes Ms. Meshon Rawls
Ms. Jeanne Howard Judge Sue Robbins
Magistrate Jon Johnson Ms. Peggy Sanford
Judge Kathleen Kroll Mr. Kent Spuhler
Mr. Carlos Martinez Ms. Mary Vanden Brook
Mr. Tom Mato
Justice Barbara Pariente, Supreme Court liaison to the FCC
Others present:
Chief Justice Fred Lewis
Lisa Goodner, State Courts Administrator
Blan Teagle, Deputy State Courts Administrator
Dennis Moore, Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office
Rose Patterson, Chief, Office of Court Improvement
Dana Dowling, Senior Attorney, Office of Court Improvement
Sandy Neidert, Court Operations Consultant, Office of Court Improvement
Janet Bowman, Senior Attorney, Office of Court Improvement
Committee members who could not attend were:
Judge Herbert Baumann Judge Robert Morris
Judge Robert Evans Judge Ellen Venzer
Judge Marci Goodman Ms. Jean-Adel Williams
Judge Sandy Karlan Mr. Thomas Sasser
Chief Justice Fred Lewis introduced Judge Nikki Ann Clark, the FCC Chair and Justice Barbara Pariente, Supreme Court liaison to the FCC. He affirmed the importance of the committee and the committee’s work that touches Florida’s children and families. He stated his desire to add to the success of the FCC thus far. He emphasized the importance of the committee examining the impact of mental health issues in the court and the committee’s work to review the rules related to Unified Family Court (UFC).
Judge Nikki Clark welcomed the committee members and Office of Court Improvement staff. She shared her enthusiasm about being the chair of this committee, and said that the committee will not meet just to “meet” but that this committee would be a working committee as it has been in the past. Judge Clark indicated that most of the committee’s work will be done in subcommittees, and she will serve as liaison to the subcommittees. She sees the committee producing work that will not sit on the shelf, but that will make a difference for children and families.
Judge Clark asked the committee members to introduce themselves and indicate what each member expects from the FCC. Members stated that they were pleased and honored to serve on the FCC, and several identified specific areas of interest as follows:
Rules regarding confidentiality of information in dependency cases; pro se system;
children in shackles, i.e., look at rules re: treating children with dignity and respect; access to counsel in delinquency cases; quality of counsel; training for assistant state attorneys and public defenders regarding the success of UFC
help in family area, especially juvenile cases – we need a unified code of rules for family cases; mental health issues – look at local alliances; need for more case managers; protection of victims, in delinquency cases; access to counsel in delinquency cases; amendments to Chapter 39 to coordinate with Chapter 63;
training for magistrates; standard child support order coordinated with dependency cases; integrate child support into UFC; improve process of all child support issues; need after care services for kids coming from secure safe placements for children with the most serious needs; have probate and guardianship as part of the UFC Took Kit; implement UFC as bottom – up process; community can help build clout of UFC, can make strong statements; can help build case for services at grassroots; code for family – not separate needs; mental health & UFC and drug are connected with alliance – Chapter 47; UFC makes folks outside of delinquency pay attention, public defenders and state attorneys are often on the same side; need protection of victims in UFC – integrate victims; concept of UFC makes sense; low income families are most adversely affected, mental health and low income – no services; dependency, delinquency – improve outcomes; cut through confusion in information sharing; lack of services, but can use crossover resources; GAL for each child – not just dependency; statewide conferences.
Judge Clark thanked the members for their comments. One member asked whether the FCC could address additional issues or topics beyond those included in the Administrative Order creating the committee. Judge Clark indicated that if a member felt very strongly about a particular issue, she would be willing to approach Chief Justice Lewis about expanding the charges of the committee. However, Judge Clark said that she felt that any such request should be made very thoughtfully and carefully because: 1) Chief Justice Lewis has already indicated what he believes to be the appropriate scope of the committee’s work in the administrative order and the existing charges should be the FCC’s focus; and 2) any expansion of the committee’s work would have a substantial workload impact on staff.
Justice Pariente recognized the FCC members not present, and discussed several issues pertinent to family courts: UFC and the importance of improving outcomes in the lives of children and families; the presence of mental health issues in many family cases and the fact that many families are in court because something has failed; pro se litigant issues; the importance of case management and the coordination of cases; and the need to collaborate with all justice system partners. More specifically, her comments included the following:
· The FCC is a working committee that produces good work products.
· She referred to the 2001 Florida Supreme Court Opinion located in the member’s packets, and recognized the importance of the Unified Family Court charges.
· She stated that 44% of all court cases involve families and children and we need to think of the point of view of the children and families; we need to improve the outcome of their court experience.
· Children who go to court need services and she is concerned that we identify the resources and money for these services.
· One of the primary charges early on was development of resources for self help litigants. Where are we now on this project and what can we do? She indicated that Bob Dillinger will begin a pilot in the Sixth Judicial Circuit where public defenders will represent children in all areas in which they are involved.
· Clarifying Rules is an important focus; Tool Kit II has a section devoted to legal issues when handling multiple cases involving one family; achieving a Unified Family Court is a matter of leadership from the Supreme Court level to the chief judge.
· Case management is key to UFC from intake and referral to getting information for the judge to make an accurate decision and coordination of cases.
· Collaboration of all agencies involved with children and families. Interdisciplinary knowledge is critical to the success of UFC.
Justice Pariente then introduced the Office of Court Improvement (OCI) and Chief Rose Patterson. Justice Pariente said we are fortunate to have Rose leading OCI, as Rose has the great ability to build upon what has been done in the past and carry projects forward in a logical fashion. Rose provided a brief retrospective on implementation of Unified Family Court as well as specific charges of previous family court committees. She referred to a timeline of significant events (included in the members’ packets) in looking at major events involving families and children in the courts and identified one role of staff as providing liaison with other court committees when responsibilities overlap.
Judge Clark described how she became interested in UFC and then explained the process by which she worked to implement a Unified Family Court in the Second Judicial Circuit. She shared examples of how UFC has worked toward a successful outcome for children and families in the Second Judicial Circuit and noted that UFC is the only place where children have a voice and power to make them part of their solution. The Second Judicial Circuit has many challenges but they are making progress by looking at cases in a holistic approach. She shared some statistics from the Second Circuit; since February 2006, a total of 120 cases have been handled through Unified Family Court.
Janet Bowman, Senior Attorney with OCI, introduced a video on a mental health “unit” in the Miami jail, “The Forgotten Floor.” This video, produced by a local Miami television news program, displayed the ninth floor of the Dade County Detention Center where numerous mentally ill criminal defendants are held pending placement in a state hospital – some individuals spend months there. Judge Leifman, an FCC member, was interviewed in the video and noted that this facility is the largest (in terms of number of patients) in-patient “mental health facility” in the state of Florida. The video demonstrated a clear need for more mental-health treatment facilities and services as well as the dilemma faced by the court system and defendants when such facilities and services are not available. This is one of several aspects of mental health and the court system to be addressed by the appropriate FCC subcommittee.
Rose then had OCI staff members introduce themselves to the committee members and explain their areas of expertise.
Judge Clark pointed out the list of subcommittee assignments and noted that a number of non-FCC members will be serving as subcommittee members. The subcommittees will meet along with the full committee, but in addition to this, the subcommittees will need additional meetings, teleconference meetings or conference calls to complete their work. Additionally, an ad hoc committee will be created to work on technical issues as they arise in various circuits.
At this point, Judge Clark thanked committee members for their interest and commitment and adjourned the full committee meeting. The subcommittee chairs then met with Judge Clark and OCI staff to discuss their charges and initial plans for moving forward.
3