Judicial Awareness of Resilience in Family Court: Some Initial Considerations

This is the second in a series of technical assistance briefs on resilience by the Resource Center on Domestic Violence: Child Protection and Custody (RCDV:CPC), a project of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). The first brief focused on clarifying and refining the concept of resilience, provided an overview of the research on this important topic, and offered some initial considerations as courts attempt to reinforce resilience further in applicable cases. Much of the first brief focused on issues particularly relevant to child abuse and neglect proceedings, and that remains the case in this brief. However, this brief will also touch upon how the topic of resilience applies, to a limited extent, in some custody and divorce matters, and emphasize the importance of family court judges becoming even more aware of how courts are considering resilience or protective factors even though, in cases like custody and divorce, direct application of these factors may not be standard or may be quite different.