What problem does this address?
Maine’s family court delays aren’t just scheduling issues. When decisions that affect a child’s stability take months or years, children live through prolonged uncertainty and conflict. Time isn’t neutral for kids.
What does the initiative do?
- Shortens timelines for decisions that directly affect children.
- Limits unnecessary continuances and requires clear written reasons when delays occur.
- Reduces “weaponized process” by tightening procedures that reward obstruction and escalation.
- Improves transparency by requiring public reporting of backlog/time-to-hearing/time-to-order metrics.
- Creates accountability focused on correction and prevention (not punitive spectacle).
Guiding principle: The developmental health of a child should never be subordinated to administrative convenience or conflict incentives.
What does it NOT do?
- It does not guarantee any one person “wins” a case.
- It does not attack every judge, clerk, or attorney.
- It does not replace the rule of law — it strengthens fairness and speed where children are impacted.
Why now?
Backlog is a compounding problem: the longer the system tolerates delay, the more families are harmed, and the more delay becomes leverage. Fixing incentives and timelines is the fastest way to reduce harm.
If you want this page to be even sharper, tell me the three “must keep” phrases you want repeated everywhere (e.g., “Time is not neutral for children”).