Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Keywords

Child Protection, Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Legal Writing, Trauma-Informed Practice

Abstract

Society has become acutely aware that trauma arises from many life events and manifests in a range of physical and psychological symptoms. The legal community is increasingly recognizing that clients living with trauma effects would be much better served with trauma-informed services. While much of the emerging literature in the legal field focuses on lawyers’ work, there is growing recognition that judges can also play a role in responding effectively to trauma.

In child protection cases, trauma frequently exists at different yet related levels – for the child who is the subject of protection proceedings, and for one or more of the caregivers whose parenting has been alleged by state authorities to fall below accepted community standards. These proceedings often have at their core situations where parents’ trauma responses have played a significant role in producing the parental behaviours that risk them being permanently separated from their children. Those parents are the focus of this analysis.

The paper does not attempt to delve into the important conversation of whether and how substantive laws in the child protection regime could be adapted to better support individuals experiencing trauma. Instead, it will focus on how judges characterize and respond to parental trauma within their written judgments. These judgments often require judges to critically evaluate the quality of parental care provided by individuals whose own traumatic responses may have undermined their ability to care for their children. The paper argues that adopting a compassionate perspective that respects the dignity of individuals who have experienced trauma represents an integral element of trauma-informed judging and fosters principles of Therapeutic Jurisprudence.

Comments

"DRAFT PENDING PUBLICATION in the UIC Law Review, Symposium Issue on Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Volume 53:3 (2025)."

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