Last week, I was in family court. My case involved serious allegations of child abuse and neglect. My client was seeking custody of his children.
A court does not remove children from a parent without an investigation. Judges don’t leave the court, however, they put eyes and ears on the ground by employing family relations officer or a guardian ad litem to conduct things like home visits. After an investigation, a family relations officer tells a judge what it discovered and makes a recommendation.
This is done to save time. Instead of calling a dozen witnesses, a lot of information comes in through one witness (either a GAL or a family relations officer). The alternative would be a very lengthy trial with many witnesses. Such a trial could consume several weeks of a judge’s time.
I knew this case needed a full evaluation from Family Relations. When I asked for one, I was told that it may be impossible to do one as there will be layoffs in Family Relations. The study may not get done or it may take a very long time to complete.
Are the potential layoffs impacting your cases? If so, I’d love to read how.