Abstract:
Through the years, the Singapore courts have increasingly recognised that the resolution of family disputes requires an interdisciplinary therapeutic jurisprudential approach. The seeds of such an approach were first planted in 1995 when the family and juvenile courts were brought together as a single division in the then Subordinate Courts. Court-based mediation was introduced and a counselling division was established as the social science arm of the courts. The establishment of the Family Justice Courts in 2014 ushered in a second wave of reforms. Fresh initiatives have been put in place to help spread therapeutic jurisprudential principles and techniques throughout the family justice ecosystem, providing an opportunity for all stakeholders to co-create a new paradigm.