Child Support Enforcement and the Function of Family Courts

This week, the New York Times published a story about how the child support enforcement systems and policies in U.S. court create a cycle of non-payment by middle and low income parents: Skip Child Support. Go to Jail. Lose Job. Repeat. Unpaid child support became a big concern in the 1980s and ’90s...
April 22, 2015

Innovations in Family Courts

The Domestic Relations Division of the Cook County Court is carefully examining ways to make some significant changes which will improve the level of service for everyone needing to establish parentage of a child, get child support for a child or come to a shared agreement for parenting.  Chicago Ap...
June 11, 2014

Access to Justice

Effective July 1, 2016, the Massachusetts bar exam will include essay questions related to access to justice issues. The questions will cover practice areas typically handled by legal aid services, self help services and pro se parties, such as Landlord-Tenant, child support, custody and divorce, as...
May 6, 2014

Reforming the Cook County Parentage Court

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 u...
January 20, 2014

The Illinois Access to Justice Act

Governor Quinn signed the Access to Justice Act, HB3111, on Thursday, August 15, 2013. Although the bill is aimed primarily at helping veterans and active duty servicemembers who are facing civil lawsuits, the law also provides funding for legal self-help centers in law libraries, creates a task f...
August 21, 2013