One family, one judge theory is 'really just getting cranked up'

CRESTVIEW — Neglect, abuse, juvenile delinquency, domestic violence and divorce.

The things that all too often tear families apart also are the things that bring them to their county courthouse.

Civil cases involving juvenile delinquency, domestic violence, divorce and dependency comprise nearly half of all cases in Florida’s First Judicial Circuit, according to Okaloosa County Circuit Judge Terry Ketchel.

Last year in Okaloosa County, the circuit established its first Unified Family Court and selected Ketchel to preside over it.

“Our first concept is one judge, one family,” Ketchel said.

At present, the Unified Family Court only exists in Crestview. In one year, Terry Terrell, the chief judge of Florida’s First Judicial Circuit, said it’s “really just getting cranked up.”

But Terrell, who sat on the Family Court Steering Committee appointed by the state Supreme Court a decade ago, seems committed to the concept.

He said there are plans to establish some form of Family Court in south Okaloosa County in 2013.

The county will have two new judges next year when Circuit Judges Thomas Remington and Jack Heflin retire. Remington presently hears child abuse and neglect cases and Heflin, who presides over the Juvenile Court.

In Crestview, the Unified Family Court was set up to sweep all the legal issues confronting a family in turmoil into one courtroom.

The north county was ideally suited demographically to attempt a “one judge, one family” system, Ketchel said.

“In years past as we looked at the four areas, we saw many times when a family would have different cases on the family law docket,” he said.

In a Unified Family Court hearing room, a judge with full knowledge of a particular family’s situation can “take the maximum amount of time to make a good decision,” Ketchel said.

The primary goal is to protect the children, who in most cases are victims of the misdeeds or missteps of the adults raising them, Ketchel said.

“A lot of these matters deal with the kids. A lot of times they’re the victims,” Ketchel said. “They’re not causing any of this, but they are dramatically impacted. Even the best of divorces is traumatic for children.”

There is no real statistical method to calculate the success of a family court system, Ketchel and Terrell said.

But Janice Thomas, the district administrator for the state Department of Children and Families in Northwest Florida, said she is wholeheartedly behind the concept.

“I do think that’s a good project. I do think it is the best practice and we at DCF would advocate for that,” Thomas said.

In theory, the Unified Family Court also increases the efficiency of the judicial system by eliminating items from the court docket, Terrell said.

“I think it’s really an effective case management tool at its core,” he said.

The key to the Unified Family Court is the case management administrator, according to Ketchel and Terrell.

The case administrator in Crestview is Becki Wilson, who keeps the records, oversees the details and brings the important parties to the table for hearings and discussions.

“One of the impediments we’ve had until last year was we didn’t have the administrative managerial support,” Ketchel said.

Terrell said one thing the state’s judges have asked Florida legislators for in 2012 is money to train or hire skilled case managers.