The following is an edited version of a speech delivered to the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Children and the Law Family Court 50th Anniversary on Sept. 14.
With nearly three quarters of a million filings each year, the Family Court is the face of the justice system for so many New Yorkers. People come to Family Court to resolve the most pressing and important issues in their liveschild custody, visitation, foster care, adoption, support, paternity, guardianship, juvenile delinquency, family violence, child abuse and neglect. What is at stake in the Family Court is not just money or property, but the very fibre of human beings’ lives.
