Our Family Court Reception Centers provide a safe, emotionally supportive space for you to wait for court hearings.
Case managers are available to help you at the Reception Centers and provide:
- Safety planning
- Advocacy
- Supportive Counseling
- Help with navigating the court process
- Help with seeking an order of protection
- Supervised visitation (in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens)
- Free child care while parents attend to court business
- A safe place for survivors to wait for hearings
- Help with practical assistance
- Information about compensation through the Office of Victim Services and help with the application process
- Connections to other services
About Family Court
Family Court hears cases involving children and families and has jurisdiction and responsibility over certain types of issues including:
- Juvenile delinquency
- Child custody and visitation
- Child abuse and neglect
- Child support
- Family offenses such as domestic violence
Family Court hears cases involving children and families.
To get an Order of Protection in Family Court, your relationship to the other party must fall into one of these categories:
- Current or former spouse (husband or wife)
- Someone you are related to through blood or marriage
- Someone you have a child with (even if you were never married to or never lived with the person)
- Someone you are or were in an “intimate relationship” with (including dating couples, same sex couples, and teen-age couples).
