Seen and Heard: A New Look At Child Participation in Family Disputes

Israeli legislation adopted a unique model of children's participation in conflicts adjudicated in family courts. The article looks at this model and at the findings of one evaluation study and one follow-up study through the lens of therapeutic jurisprudence. It considers aspects of therapeutic jurisprudence manifest in the model and in these studies' findings as well as the potential entailed by broader adoption of this movement's ideas for the model's continued and effective implementation. Insights that emerged from these studies' findings, which could enrich therapeutic jurisprudence and contribute to its implementation in various countries, are also suggested. In the last section, we look through a therapeutic jurisprudence perspective at a development in Israeli law that promotes referral of family conflicts to non-adversarial proceedings and considers how the children's right to participation can also be implemented in these collaborative, out–of-court settings.