Family Law Advisory Council
Under the chairmanship of the Honorable William C. Mackrides, the Family Law Advisory Council is a consortium of core systematic stakeholders who meet regularly to ensure that the various departments and agencies charged with the responsibilities of providing services to and through the court’s family section coordinate such efforts to best meet the needs of the Delaware County community in cases of divorce, child custody, equitable distribution, child support, child protective services, spousal support and/or protection from abuse. The council’s participants include: Judges, Family Section Masters; Law Clerks; the Domestic Relations Office; the Delaware County Judicial Support Office; the Office of the District Attorney; the Public Defender’s Office; the Sheriff’s Office; Children and Youth Services; and the Family Court Administrator’s Office.
The council’s mission is to continually improve the effective and efficient administration of justice in all types of family matters coming before the court through an overarching and coordinated strategic planning and management paradigm. This goal is realized by a unique collaboration of individual representatives from the varied departments and agencies routinely sharing their respective areas of knowledge, professional experiences and expertise. Systematic problems are identified, discussed and through the exercise of reflective management administration successfully addressed with flexible solutions recognizing the interdependent impacts of the involved departments and agencies on each other’s operations, while yet appreciating the individual departments’ and agencies’ autonomy. This all-inclusive approach of an ongoing, collaborative partnership promotes systematic protocols which benefit those community members seeking the court’s assistance, as well as that of the numerous other departments and agencies, all charged with the varied responsibilities attendant to family law cases.