Nicole A. Carnemolla,
J.D. Candidate at the Quinnipiac School of Law
Wrote in the Quinnipiac Law Review as follows:
I. INTRODUCTION
For more on this article, please click on the link below:
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/prebuilt/pdf/SchoolLaw/LawReviewLibrary/Vol33_Issue2_2015_carnemolla.pdf
RAISING THE BAR FOR CHILD ADVOCATES IN
CONNECTICUT’S FAMILY COURT
I. INTRODUCTION
When parents are in the midst of a high-conflict custody dispute,judges often appoint either an Attorney for the Minor Child (AMC) or a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) to protect the child’s rights, to advocate for his or her best interests, and, at times, to express the child’s wishes.1 For more than five years, a committee of experienced professionals in Connecticut2 has struggled to improve the quality of the work performed by these child advocates. Despite these efforts, some parents feel that Connecticut’s AMC and GAL system is “horribly broken.”3 Recently, aggrieved parents joined together to voice their concerns and caught the attention of the Connecticut Legislature.4
For more on this article, please click on the link below:
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/prebuilt/pdf/SchoolLaw/LawReviewLibrary/Vol33_Issue2_2015_carnemolla.pdf
I appreciate that the author of the note is only a law student. However, she could have written a much better note if she sought the insight of parents and particularly lawyers involved in Connecticut's family law reform movement. As written, her article accepts the divorce industry's view that the GAL/AMC system status quo is somehow acceptable. In fact, many of the practices are unconstitutional and violate statutes and generally accepted legal practices. And anyone who writes an article on the CT GAL/AMC system without focusing on the huge amount of money involved is missing the entire point. We need a system that respects parenting rights, takes care of families, respects due process, and prohibits the divorce industry from taking financial advantage of families. Those are the issues students and scholars need to be writing about.
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