
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994                   TAG: 9403100027
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ROBERT E. SHEPHERD JR.
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FAMILY COURT

AFTER 30 years of involvement in the Virginia legislative process on issues affecting the commonwealth's children and families, I believed that the state was on the verge of taking its most significant step in reforming the legal system to support these most vulnerable building blocks of our society through the creation of a family court. The 1993 General Assembly overwhelmingly passed family-court bills with strong bipartisan support. All that was necessary for the courts to begin operation in 1995 was passage of a funding package in 1994.

Now it appears the family court has become an innocent pawn in the hands of politicians seeking to carry out their own agendas in a fashion that ultimately will hurt only those most vulnerable members of our society - children and families enmeshed in the legal system.

Despite strong advocacy for ``family values'' during the 1993 campaign, some Republicans, in and out of the administration, appear more interested in having judgeships to fill some time in the distant future than in comforting families. Some Democratic legislators likewise have deserted the court because of their fear of being labeled ``big spenders'' and being accused of ``cronyism'' by their opponents. Both groups have lost sight of the primary role of elected representatives in a responsible democracy, to do justice by seeking the most good for the most people.

The 1993 legislation creating the court was the culmination of years of effort through a succession of governors of both parties and an ever-changing group of legislators. It resulted from a three-year pilot project in various parts of the state. They demonstrated that the pilot family courts were more ``user friendly'' and far more receptive to the use of mediation to resolve family disputes instead of ``trial by combat.'' This conclusion was reached without any consideration of which party elected the judge.

Legislators from both parties serving on the committee evaluating the pilot family-court project embraced the court with open arms. The family court was not Democratic or Republican or liberal or conservative, it was simply a good idea first advanced by legislators in 1950 and whose time had finally arrived. The costs projected for implementing it are far less than the proposed subsidy for Disney, or the costs of future incarceration or therapy for children who may be scarred by a contentious divorce and custody battle.

I urge that the family court not become the victim of a Richmond version of gridlock or the hostage of partisan maneuvering that will simply sentence thousands of Virginia families to continue to resolve their family legal problems in an atmosphere of animosity and contention. The family court will give hope to children and families that a new day has arrived. We must not allow the family court to fail right now at the critical moment. It must be passed.

by CNB