Family Court at last

HOPEFULLY before the end of the year, Trinidad and Tobago will finally have a functioning Family Court, albeit in the form of a pilot project. The Court will represent a kind of evolutionary leap in our judicial system, bringing our country in line with modern-day methods of dealing with family matters. Indeed, it will be the ultimate realisation of plans and intentions and initiatives which go back to the 70s but which, for one reason or another, were never brought to fruition. But, in this case, better late than never. Essentially, the Family Court should make a difference and prove its worth by shifting the way we deal with family matters from the present adversarial mode to one of mediation and conciliation. The approach is one adopted by most civilised countries and should be particularly relevant to TT where family life is constantly under siege from a multitude of pressures and provocations, both internal and external. The breakdown of marital relationships and the adverse effects these tensions have on family members, including irate husbands and anguished children, is a serious social problem about which the Family Court can play an important part in relieving and resolving.

Because of its expanded, indeed holistic, approach to dealing with family matters, and the special services at its disposal, it seems wise to launch the Court as a pilot project. This, in fact, was the recommendation of a committee, headed by attorney Stephanie Daly, which studied its establishment and reported last year. Operations of the pilot Court will be under the vigil of a Monitoring Committee which will eventually make recommendations for setting up a full fledged system. Perhaps the most significant feature of the Family Court will be the range of social services, including teams of counsellors and mediators, which will be attached to it and actually housed in the same building. These services will help to establish the new and basic approach of the Court which is to seek conciliation and settlement of family disputes rather than carry on with the old pattern of confrontation and dissolution. We must commend this aspect of the Court with the hope that it would serve to ameliorate and defuse the distrust, hurt and anger that arise in so many family disputes and lead to so much domestic tragedy in our country.

To begin with, the pilot project will be a dedicated Family Court combining the jurisdiction of the Port-of-Spain High Court with that of the St George West magisterial district. It will have a unified registry and will deal with all family life matters, including divorce, custody of and access to children, maintenance. However, the Court will not have the authority to hear criminal charges. It is obvious that the establishment of such a specialist court requires considerable planning and even now, we understand, training is in progress to have the Court manned by professional officers and staff. It is good that consultations are also being held with officials of the Law Association. The Family Court has been long in coming. Agitation for one started in the 70s. A Bill to establish one was actually drafted in 1986. Promises for one were made on the eve of the 2000 elections. Whatever the snags and hindrances to its formation in the past, the Court is now about to be a reality. As we said before, better late than never.