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Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice had the privilege of providing research and analysis to a task force examining conditions for litigants and attorneys in the Parentage section of Domestic Relations Division of the Cook County Circuit Court. Our full report is now available.

Cook County takes an unusual approach to child support and parenting issue litigation by assigning cases based upon whether the child’s parents have ever been married to each other. Cases concerning non-marital children are heard in the Parentage Court; cases with marital children are heard in Domestic Relations Court, called “Divorce Court”. Our research did not uncover another jurisdiction which divides its child support and custody cases into separate divisions based upon whether or not the child was born to married parents, although New Jersey courts have a judicial unit for “non-dissolution paternity and/or support” between persons who are not married or married parties who have separated but not filed for divorce.

In Gomez v. Comerford, No. 93-C-3268 (N.D. Ill ), in the mid-1990s, Cook County was sued on behalf of the families in the Parentage Court, alleging that the disparities between the Parentage Court and Divorce Court amounted to a violation of the families’ rights under the Equal Protection Clause.  The court concluded that—given the history of discrimination against nonmarital children in Illinois—there was a triable issue of fact over whether the separate systems were originally put into place because of a discriminatory purpose. However, the suit was voluntarily dismissed when the County made some immediate changes to the Parentage Court. Among other things, the Parentage Court was moved, first from the various police stations around Chicago to a consolidated location on West Randolph and, recently, into the concourse level of the Daley Center.

The Domestic Relations Division’s “Divorce Courtrooms” occupy conventional courtrooms dispersed over several upper floors in the Daley Center. The Parentage Court occupies a series of small courtrooms and hearing rooms in the concourse level and recently expanded to include two additional conventional courtrooms on that level.

The Domestic Relations Task Force, recognizing that these changes were important but that complaints about the Parentage Court persisted, asked Chicago Appleseed to evaluate possible outcomes of a renewed equal protection challenge to the divided Domestic Relations Courts. Our research team conducted dozens of interviews with attorneys and court staff with experience in both the Cook County Parentage and Domestic Relations courts and conducted additional interviews with practitioners in other jurisdictions, academics and family services professionals. An additional three dozen practitioners responded to an electronic survey about conditions in the Domestic Relations Division generally. We also conducted four days of court-watching and additional research into court management and litigant services in other jurisdictions.

Our report argues that the Cook County Parentage Court is on the brink in terms of its Constitutional legitimacy. Those working within the Parentage Court system praise improvements that have been made within the past year but a substantial number are still critical of the facilities, and the perceived inequities in caseloads and resources. Yet, our respondents in Cook County and in jurisdictions outside Illinois offer recommendations to the Circuit Court that, if implemented, would move the Court away from this brink—toward the point where the government interest argument could prevail in a constitutional challenge. The current Court administration has demonstrated its desire to improve the Parentage Court. We urge the Court to consider and implement additional improvements.

Foremost in our recommendations for improvements is the adoption of a service-based model in the Domestic Relations courts to better serve the needs of families in the system and to improve efficiency in a division that sees a large percentage of pro se litigants. Regardless of the separation of types of families in the Domestic Relations Division, there is an ever-growing need for assistance and coordinated services in our family courts.

Policy innovations in family courts commonly reflect the desire of court administrators to preserve the rights of parents, while maintaining judicial efficiency. Most family court innovation, as well, is responding to an increase in pro se litigants, increasingly complicated family structures, and the recognition that litigants often have social services needs that are driving their legal conflicts—problems facing the Parentage Court in Cook County.

The community courts model at work in a variety of courts in various jurisdictions is designed to assist courts and litigants in keeping cases organized and moving smoothly but is more holistic and expansive than simple management of existing child support cases. It focuses on coordinating services for families, including collecting information about other court cases (domestic violence or juvenile cases, for instance) that the parties are involved with.  The community courts model assists dispute resolution through deployment of community resources and services, like job services, family counseling, child care alternatives, legal aid and other social services in order to free court resources to focus on uniquely judicial issues. Services are provided both to the court, in the form of case management, and to the litigants, in the form of social services.

Alternately, a case facilitation model, at work notably in California, is a comprehensive model designed to assist the court primarily by assisting litigants. Case facilitators are attorneys employed by the courts and their offices provide both basic case management services and comprehensive legal assistance services with settlement assistance. Case management services in a facilitation model include direct assistance to the court through in-court help calendaring, explaining procedural rules to litigants and calculating support payment as well as making minor adjustments to custody and visitation schedules and drafting orders. Services to litigants include education about rights and responsibilities, as well as legal aid workshops and self-help services. In addition to assisting pro se litigant with drafting documents, facilitator attorneys may facilitate settlements and agreed orders.

We commend the Cook County Domestic Relations Division, and Presiding Judge Grace Dickler, on her attention to the improvement of the court and hope significant change can be made.