By bringing everyone to the table, family courts can break cycles of trauma and meet families’ needs.
An encounter with family court can be a critical moment for parents, guardians, and children. The cases heard in family courts are some of the most sensitive in the justice system, ranging from custody and child support matters to cases involving allegations of abuse and neglect. And the decisions made in these courts have lasting effects on families’ health, well-being, and stability.
The challenges that bring people into family court in the first place are also complex. Underlying many cases are deep-rooted issues like poverty, housing insecurity, mental health, and intergenerational trauma.
All of these issues are best met with support and care in the community. Yet the typical court process too often leads to more harm and deeper involvement in the justice system. By working hand in hand with communities and investing in their well-being, our family courts can do better for children and families.
Reimagining family courts
Over the past decade, the Center has worked in family courts across New York to make that vision a reality
That work began on a small scale, when we launched the Strong Starts Court Initiative in the Bronx. Strong Starts brings a focus on infant mental health into family court to strengthen relationships between parents and their babies and break cycles of trauma.
The population of children most likely to be involved in the child welfare system is also the youngest: those aged three and younger. At this critical stage of brain development, children are especially vulnerable to both maltreatment and separation from a caregiver. By centering children’s development needs, Strong Starts supports healthier relationships between parents and children and prevents future contact with the system.
Today, the program has expanded to all five boroughs of New York City, as well as Westchester and Erie counties.
Our family court programs also work to address barriers that may prevent parents from being there for their children. We offer support to parents struggling to meet child support requirements, connecting them to services in employment, education, and housing.
That same problem-solving approach drives our work with teenagers and young adults in family court. We bring adolescent mental health expertise into the court process to support young people’s education and career goals, build stability, and offer restorative alternatives to detention after an arrest. By connecting young people to community-based supports, these interventions work to prevent system involvement from becoming a vicious cycle.
From local innovation to systems change
Meeting families’ underlying needs takes a collaborative approach that draws on the resources of both courts and communities. That approach is at the heart of the Family Justice Initiative, a partnership between the Center, the Governor’s Office, and New York’s court system.
Launched in 2024, the Family Justice Initiative aims to reduce system involvement and break cycles of trauma for families facing critical moments in their lives. With its recent set of recommendations, the Initiative has begun to chart a path forward for New York’s family courts.
The recommendations grew out of a planning process that brought together a wide range of partners, including judges, practitioners, clinicians, and families impacted by the system. They include everything from strategies for addressing critical needs before families reach the system, to creating a more responsive court process for people who have experienced trauma.
Another new program will draw on the Center’s years of experience in the family justice space to strengthen how practitioners serve families across the state. The Family Court Practice Institute will bring comprehensive training and resources to family court practitioners across New York, enhancing their ability to support families in an effective and trauma-informed way.
Like our very first program in family court, all of this work is rooted in collaboration between courts and communities. That approach springs from a vision called community justice, which works by bringing everyone—from judges to service providers to people with lived experience—together to meet people’s needs. Instead of punishing past wrongs, community justice looks ahead, asking what we can do now to build a stronger future.
Family courts have a vital role to play in that work, starting at the foundation of thriving communities—safe, strong families.