There was an interesting article today in our local newspaper, The Daily Star (out of Oneonta, NY), indicating that the Delaware County Board of Supervisors has passed a resolution to ask the New York State Court Administration system for a 2nd Family Court judge, claiming that the number of Family Court cases has sharply risen from 1,400 in 1980 to 3,300 per year "now".
A second Family Court judge will require his own chamber, his own law clerk and secretary - all to the tune of close to $250,000.00 addition to the budget of the New York State Court Administration.
Yet, why would there be such a sharp increase in family court cases in Delaware County, New York?
Is the population growing?
No, it has grown by 1,231 people from 1980 (46,824 according to the U.S. Census) to the year 2000 (48,055), then over the next 10 years decreased by 75 people to 47,980, and the estimate is that it decreased even more, by 704 more people, to 47,276 in 2012. We are in the year 2014, and if the loss of population continued, there may be no increase of population since the year 1980 at all, and there may be, in fact a population loss since that time.
Family court, in my experience as an attorney, usually involves issues with children.
There are definitely less children in Delaware County in the past 15 years that I have been residing here. I can judge by the class sizes at school, I can judge by the graduating class of the local Delaware Academy, one of the biggest schools in the county, I can judge by the fact that one elementary school had to be closed.
Delaware County, New York reports the lowest student to teacher ratio in the State of New York, with the highest graduation rates.
Under such circumstances, where there is less children in the county, there is no apparent reason why the number of Family Court cases so sharply increased.
In fact, with the loss of population, closing of schools and now raising graduation rates, apparently, children in Delaware County are well taken care of, and there should be less Family Court cases. Right? Obviously, wrong.
If there is not more children and not more parents in Delaware County, then what is the reason for the increased Family Court cases? The newspaper does not indicate further statistics, what kind of Family Court cases are on the increase - child custody/visitation, family offense, child support, spousal alimony, paternity, or child neglect and abuse proceedings.
Judging that the meeting of the Board of Supervisors in question was held under the banner of fighting child abuse, and judging that recently the Board of Supervisor approved additional budget to the Social Services, it must be the child protective cases.
My question as a taxpayer is - are those increases in child protective cases warranted?
Or was the Delaware County Department of Social Services invigorated in its efforts to grab people's children and thus increase the number of child protective Family Court cases by federal monetary incentives for adoptions out of foster care?
Or was that department motivated and by the fact that the judge presiding over the cases of Delaware County Department of Social Services represented the Delaware County Department of Social Services for 27 years before coming to the bench and came to the bench, according to his own acknowledgment in a radio interview during his re-election campaign in 2012, because he did not like the "outcomes" in the Family Court cases? By the way, listen to the WOIX interview while the site is still there.
As a taxpayer, I want to ask a question, does the Delaware County Board of Supervisors' alleged concern for the overcrowding of the Family Court in reality mean that the Board wants to somehow hide the fact that the current, recently re-elected Family Court judge, Judge Carl F. Becker, will not be able to serve out his term of 10 years because he will turn 70, a mandatory retirement age in New York for judges, at least 4 years before expiration of his term in office?
Judge Becker knew that he will not be able to serve out his term, and still ran for the office, knowing that the county will have to pay for the new elections of a judge mid-term.
Now the county wants a 2nd judge to smooth over Judge Becker's retirement?
Yet, the question still remains - what is the share of child protective cases in the alleged increase of Family Court cases in Delaware County, the least populated county in the United States after the Adirondacks (33 people per square mile or 13 people per square kilometer)?
What is the reason where the least populated county in the country after the Adirondacks mountain needs more judges?
As a comparison, population in Albany County, New York, by the 2013 estimate, is 306, 945 people, and there are only 3 judges in Albany County Family Court, 1 judge per more than 100,000 people.
The questions remain - are Family Court cases that are on the increase in Delaware County child protective cases?
What causes the increase of Family Court cases with such a scarcity of population, decrease of the number of children in the county to the point of closing schools and increase in graduation rates?
If children are taken from homes to have more federal money flowing to social services, or to satisfy the agenda of the social services, such a scenario does not answer either the taxpayers, or the parents, or the children's best interests.
And the questions remain.
Thanks
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