CCJ/COSCA Family Justice Initiative

Family Justice Initiative

FJI principles

About the project

The Family Justice Initiative (FJI) sets forth a model that draws upon data-informed strategies to assist the resolution of family matters. Through screening and assement tools, and triage case management, judges and court staff can better identify cases that require substantial court-based or community services, and cases requiring minimal court resources and little or no exercise of judicial discretion.

At the CCJ/COSCA 2020 Annual Meeting, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators endorsed and encouraged their members to implement the following recommendations:

Access CCJ/COSCA Resolution 4 In Support of a Call to Action to Redesign Justice Processes for Families, here.

1. Ensure that family law matters receive the same level of prestige and respect as other court matters by providing them with appropriate recognition, training, funding, and strong leadership

2. Aggressively triage cases at the earliest opportunity

3. Simplify court procedures so that self-represented parties know what to expect, understand how to navigate the process, can meaningfully engage in the justice system, and are treated fairly

4. Ensure that self-help information and services are available both in person and remotely so that all litigants can access the full range of court self-help in the manner that is most appropriate for their needs

5. Offer families a choice of dispute resolution options to promote problem-solving and to minimize the negative effects that the adversarial process has on families during the court process and afterwards

6. Promote the well-being of families, including implementation of trauma-responsive practices for families and staff, throughout the life of their case and as the primary desired case outcome

How sites are implementing the FJI principles

Outline of how the pilot sites are pulling from the FJI Principles and some or their lessons learned on the importance of the culture of the family court; structured decision; supporting parties, training, coaching, and mentoring judges court staff, and legal partners; and data collection, evaluation, and technology innovation.

Examples from the field

SJI logo

The FJI Initiative is supported by a generous grant from the State Justice Institute (SJI-19-P-021). The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State Justice Institute, the FJI Task Force, IAALS, NCJFCJ, or the National Center for State Courts.