


Kids in Court: When Can They Appear and How Can the Court Hear from Them?
Hon. Denise Martinez-Scanziani Dmartinez-Scanziani@jud11.flcourts.org Access to justice, for many, is the right to be seen and to be heard by the court. Some may even define this as due process. Thousands of cases in Miami-Dade County involve children in one way or...
Domestic Violence Court: A Primer
By: Judge D. J. Cannava, dcannava@jud11.flcourts.org Miami-Dade County, Florida is the eighth largest county in the United States, has close to 3,000,000 diverse residents and spans 2,400 square miles including a large unincorporated area and 36 municipalities. The...What about the Kids? Domestic Violence and the Effects on Babies and Children
By Judge Carroll Kelly, 11th Judicial Circuit, ckelly@jud11.flcourts.orgEvery day, our courts address domestic violence issues involving individuals who are parents. What happens to the children who are exposed to domestic violence? They are more than just innocent...Substance Use Disorder
Presently in the United States, nearly 9 million children live with at least one parent who suffers from a Substance Use Disorder, including alcohol (SUD). This constitutes no less than 12% of all children in the United States. Fifty percent of those suffering from a SUD, also suffer from a co-occurring mental health issue such as depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder.