The Case for Abolishing Family Court, with Jane Spinak

This week we talk with Jane Spinak, author of The End of Family Court: How Abolishing the Court Brings Justice to Children and Families. Jane is a Clinical Professor of Law Emerita at Columbia Law School, where she directed clinical programs in family regulation for forty years. In this episode, Jane traces her journey from working to reform the family court system to advocating for its abolishment. She tells us about the history of the family court system, which was created to be benevolent toward families, but harshly punishes parents and children. Jane’s book lays out the case for abolishing family court completely, and replacing it with programs designed to truly support families rather than surveilling and policing them.