Annual Survey of Virginia Law: Legal Issues Involving Children

Three events in the past year significantly impacted the way the legal system treats children. First, the family court experiment being conducted under the auspices of the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Judicial Council was concluded. Second, the General Assembly established a state-wide, community-based, inter-agency system to deliver services to children and youth. Third, the Virginia Supreme Court promulgated the first set of statewide rules governing proceedings in juvenile and domestic relations district courts.

The year's other developments were not as systemic or far reaching as those above, although recommendations flowing from the Youth Services Commission's' legislatively-mandated study of services and violent juvenile crime have the potential to impact the way this highly visible problem is dealt with in the future.