To Handle Rise in Abuse Cases
Call for More 'Family' Judges

By REUVEN BLAU

City Councilman Bill de Blasio last week urged the State Legislature to fund an additional 47 Family Court Judges - nearly doubling the current total - to help handle the escalating number of child abuse reports that have been filed since the death of Nixzmary Brown 14 months ago.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow 'FAMILY COURT CRISIS': Brooklyn City Councilman Bill de Blasio March 13 urged the State Legislature to finance an additional 47 Family Court Judges to help deal with the 30-percent rise in the number of child abuse reports filed since the death of Nixzmary Brown in January 2006.

After meeting with top state lawmakers in Albany on March 12, the Brooklyn Councilman said that he was "encouraged" the money would be added to the final budget.

'Crisis in Family Court'

"Every major change begins with acknowledgment," he said at a press conference the following day on the steps of City Hall. "Everyone agreed that there is a crisis in the Family Courts and a profound need for more judges. But there is a long way from acknowledgment to getting something."

Mr. de Blasio, who chairs the Council's Committee on General Welfare, is hoping that his proposal gets swept in with the other judicial reforms Governor Spitzer has championed. "You are never going to have a better moment than this to tackle this issue," Mr. de Blasio remarked. "It has been a cry in the wilderness up until now."

JUDITH S. KAYE: Also cites need.

Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye also called for a statewide increase of 39 Family Court Judges - there are currently 154 - during her Feb. 26 State of the Judiciary address. "With the heightened attention brought on by the tragic Nixzmary Brown case, filings in abuse and neglect cases in New York City Family Courts more than doubled," she said. New York State, however, has not increased the number of Family Court Judges statewide since 1991. It will cost an estimated $1.2 million per year to pay for each new judge and his or her staff and facilities, officials familiar with the proposal said.

'Don't Have the Money'

"The bottom line is that we are desperately short of judicial resources, and we are therefore asking the Legislature to create 39 additional Family Court judgeships statewide, to enable us to meet the needs of Family Court calendars," Ms. Kaye said.

Mr. de Blasio said the need for more Family Court judges was repeatedly raised by child-care advocates during multiple Council hearings that were held after the death of seven-year-old Nixzmary Brown Jan. 11, 2006 of injuries allegedly inflicted by her parents.

"Every time we looked at the issue, people said, 'Family Court,''' he recalled, "because it was tying up Caseworkers' time. It was bogging down everything."

There was a huge increase in neglect and abuse complaints filed last year, which have "overwhelmed" the already-taxed court system, he said. At a Council hearing in January addressing the issue, Family Court Judges' caseloads were estimated to have jumped from 1,406 per judge in 2005 to 2,538 per judge in 2006.

Feds Forced Reforms

City Family Court Judges are appointed by the Mayor for 10-year terms. They can decide to remove a child and place him or her in foster care, and handle 35 to 40 cases a day.

But in 2003, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determined that judges in New York's Family Courts had failed to properly maintain basic records concerning such cases.

In response, New York enacted major reforms in the foster care system, called the "permanency law." The measure is intended to provide better information-sharing among people involved in each child's case, and to streamline the process in hope of moving children in and out of foster care more rapidly. But it also places further pressure on Family Court Judges. Once a child is placed in foster care, hearings must be scheduled once every eight months. In the past, judges were required to hold a hearing only once a year. Under the new law, judges are also provided with additional "permanency" reports concerning the detailed status of each child.

Workload Problems

The permanency law doubled the number of court appearances judges must now handle, but it did not come with additional funding or staffing, Mr. de Blasio noted. The measure also has led to an increased number of cases being postponed due to scheduling problems.

Such delays have resulted in children spending more time in temporary situations while their cases are adjudicated. "If you see children's fates being put off, it breaks your heart," Mr. de Blasio told reporters.

After the press conference, the Councilman noted that he recently visited the Family Court in lower Manhattan. "It was barely-controlled chaos," he said.