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7 Child & Fam. L.J. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/cflj7 and id is 1 raw text is: Paternity and the Quasi-Marital Child The Honorable Diana Tennis' I. INTRODUCTION It is difficult to imagine the depth of feelings aroused by some routine litigation. When that litigation centers on children and the adults who love them intensely, the result is often an emotional, chaotic and sometimes toxic courtroom mix. Given how much longer it takes to complete the appellate review process, one cannot help but think about the pain and turmoil the children (and adults) suffered while some of the herein cited cases made their way through our court system. When reading the cases themselves, consider that the litigation likely took one to two years at the trial level, and often at least that much time working its way up through one or more levels of appeal. In some cases, the children have gone from being toddlers to middle-schoolers by the time the courts determine their lifelong legal parents. Sometimes the legal result is that the children no longer keep the parents they have loved since birth. To say that the legal system is not equipped to deal with the emotional quagmire it creates in family cases is a drastic understatement. Pointing out the structural problems inherent in utilizing a slow, logic driven, paid-by-the-hour legal system to determine the family dynamics for children is not the purpose of this article. However, the author hopes that with every new generation of legal professionals we will come closer to recognizing the harm being done to our families and develop better practices and principles to help families reorganize legally, and do so in an ever more child- centered and emotionally healthy way. * Circuit Court Judge, Ninth Judicial Circuit, Family Division, Orlando, Florida. Special recognition for editing, drafting and education on all things grammar belongs to Lisa Harris, JD and Attorney at Law, Orlando, Florida. 1

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