State laws are intended to protect split-families, but they are not being enforced correctly by policy leaders in every community in Florida, including Fla. Stat. 787.03 (1975) which provides law enforcement with the authority to enforce time-sharing plans. Because of this, the general public wants these policy leaders to embrace discussion groups mandated in Order SC00-1410 that would foster collaboration, remove any confusion about jurisdictions, and provide direction for how they should work together for the best interests of children and families.

Since so many judicial circuits are not fulfilling their obligations to operate FLAGs, we are asking the Legislature to propose a new law that matches the existing Order SC00-1410 and adds a budgetary guideline. This bill would restate the existing requirement of each judicial circuit in Florida to operate a FLAG that is open to “local community leaders and any other interested persons or organizations to support and advise the family court.” The FLAG is mandatory for good reason; because, without it, courts don't receive the feedback they need to run well and provide justice for the people. Without eliciting feedback from the public and sharing data between siloed public agencies, these policy leaders are unaware of families’ experiences at specific touchpoints throughout their journeys in the system and do not make improvements for better experiences with greater efficiencies.The result is a system that many families currently consider to be insensitive, obstructive, and harmful – psychologically, emotionally, financially, socially, and legally.