Kids are in crisis and services are collapsing. What's a Family Court judge supposed to do?
Just one month shy of her 2022 reelection, Div. 5 Family Court Judge Tara Hagerty began vomiting blood. Years of trying to help children in crisis − in a community that lacks resources for families − had finally caught up with her. She was facing a stress-induced medical emergency.
"I knew that I was feeling some level of burnout." Hagerty, who ran unopposed, told me on the phone. "But, I had no idea that physically it was to that extent."
Kentucky's broken systems hurt children and families. But lack of services also prevents Family Court judges from doing the job they were elected to do which is to help families, especially kids, navigate the most difficult times of their lives.
Hagerty was hospitalized for bleeding ulcers and ordered to rest because she had lost so much blood internally. She wasn’t cleared to return to work until January of 2023 but she had every intention of serving another eight years.
Hagerty's follow-up testing showed that her ulcer had been severe enough that doctors said she would have to closely manage her health. That's when she knew she couldn't remain on the bench. "I really couldn’t manage the stress well enough to be able to return to work," Hagerty said, "so I made the decision to retire." Hagerty's health crisis serves as a warning to the community and to the Family Court judge candidates vying to replace her.
Kentucky's infrastructure to support children and families is inadequately supported and collapsing on itself. Meanwhile, Family Court judges are tasked with cobbling together a plan forward while gaps in state services grow wider.
Kids are in crisis and Family Court judges don’t have the resources they need
The Cabinet for Health and Family services, according to Hagerty, "has been in crisis mode for at least probably the last six years." Caseworkers have much more than the recommended caseloads and pay so low for a job that requires a college degree. Social workers can make more money with less stress at Amazon or Walmart. What this means for judges like Tara Hagerty is that services aren't being provided because there's not enough staff.
There’s also not enough foster parents. Kentucky has seen a 30% rise in need for foster families. According to the 2022 Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Dashboard, this is both because there are more children in need and there are fewer foster families. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, families closed their homes for fear of spreading the virus. Kentucky Youth Advocates told me earlier this year that many of these homes have not opened back up. The Courier Journal reported in July that children have been sleeping overnight in Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services offices downtown. Hagerty says this all adds to the stress of being a judge in Family Court. "You know a child has to be removed and there’s not available relatives and then you don’t have a place to place the child so what do you do?"
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Hagerty was in the family law world for 23 years before running for judge. She was a former prosecutor, specializing in child abuse and neglect. "I knew the decisions I’d have to make," she said, "I took every step I could to prepare myself as far as gaining experience so I was ready to do the job." But when she was unable to meet the needs of Kentucky families, it really affected her.
"It's really, really hard to know that families and especially kids are in crisis and you don’t have the resources to meet their needs." She said.
How Hagerty tried to help victims of domestic abuse
Family and Children's Place started the Supervised Visitation Center, the only one of its kind in the region, in 1999. It started with $45,000 and then was awarded federal funding through a five-year grant. At one point it partnered with the Louisville Metro Office for Women, but the center had to close in 2018.
"We did the best we could with the money that we had," said Family and Children's Place Executive Director Pamela Darnall on the phone.
The Center was a vital resource to Jefferson Family Court as well as for children who were in families that experienced domestic violence. A domestic violence order usually limits contact between the child and the perpetrator, ideally stating that visitation is to be supervised for a certain amount of time. But courts have to have somebody and some place to supervise that visitation.
Federal funding for the center ran out at the same time other funding losses in the community were happening, according to Darnall. Louisville Metro government's External Agency Funding, often referred to as EAF, decreased and United Way was also beginning to change how it funded entities. "We were losing," Darnall said, "there was no specified pay source for supervised visitation at that point." The organization even went to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services a year in advance to notify them that they couldn't see how the program could be sustained without a funding source. "No nonprofit should ever be expected to have this service, or any service, but especially a supervised visitation center, without a commitment of at least four years of all the funding that is needed," said Darnall. "It is not a criticism, it is simply the reality ... the community just needs to understand we can't provide a service without a pay source."
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Hagerty tried to help identify replacement funding so that supervised visitation could continue. "I went to Kosair Charities. I went to metro government," Hagerty said. She also went to the Cabinet for Health and Family services because they had some federal funding through the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018, but Hagerty said "they couldn’t figure out a way to make that type of service fit the funding source." In the end, Hagerty wasn’t able to come up with a funding source and the center closed. "That really bothered me," she said. When a victim of domestic violence is making the decision to seek protection they have to assess their safety because sometimes seeking protection heightens their risks.
Knowing the courts didn’t have supervised visitation options put victims of domestic violence in the position of finding someone to supervise the visitation themselves or the court withholding visitation while the perpetrator completes an intervention program. "It really puts victims of domestic violence in a dangerous situation while trying to get protection," Hagerty said. Also, it’s better for children if they can still see the family member who was violent in a safe setting so they can gain some closure and process the trauma.
Losing supervised visitation "sort of just broke my heart and I internalized all of that," Hagerty said while also pointing out that all of the judges serving on the bench are grappling with these same challenges every day.
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Hagerty's advice for Family Court judicial candidates
Gov. Andy Beshear appointed Laura Russell to replace Tara Hagerty, who left the bench on June 1. Judge Russell now faces five challengers on the ballot in November to see who will fill the vacancy for the remaining seven years of the term.
Knowing what emotional and physical toll Family Court took on Hagerty, I asked her what advice she had for candidates seeking office and what voters should consider when looking at candidates for Jefferson County's newest Family Court judge.
"Know what you’re getting into," Hagerty said, "You really need to have a lot of experience in Family Court and know what you’re stepping into. Know what the challenges are and then be prepared to be able to sustain yourself in dealing with those challenges."
What are your concerns for Family Court? Submit a letter to the editor.
Family Court is a stressful job, and Hagerty emphasized the need to practice self care. There was so much stress from hearing these situations and knowing that there were many problems that the court couldn't solve. "If you really want the job," she said, "I think you need to know yourself and know how much you internalize things because that was my problem."
Hagerty was first elected to Family Court in 2014, and she left the bench before earning all of her retirement. She now works in mediation. "I still have to earn a living" she said. Her passion was being a judge, but "I still work with families and try to get them some resolution."
Meet the Family Court judicial candidates
On October 25 at 6:00 p.m. Join The Courier Journal, together with the League of Women Voters of Louisville and the Louisville Bar Association for the Jefferson Family Court Judicial Candidate Forum. The event will be both live-streamed on The Courier Journal's website and in person at Seneca High School, 3510 Goldsmith Lane.
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp is the opinion editor. She can be reached via email at BFeldkamp@Gannett.com or on social media @WriterBonnie.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Failing systems, burnout: Why Family Court judge was forced to retire
