Steve Hanson, manager of the Children & Families Section at the Ohio Supreme Court, retired today after more than a decade of working to ensure that Ohio’s families and children have access to the courts.

Steve Hanson, manager of the Children & Families Section at the Ohio Supreme Court, retired today after more than a decade of working to ensure that Ohio’s families and children have access to the courts.

After more than a decade of working to ensure that Ohio’s families and children have access to the courts, Steve Hanson, manager of the Children & Families Section, retires today from the Ohio Supreme Court.

Hanson started with the court as the Case Management Section manager, quickly developed the concept for the Children & Families Section, and has been there ever since.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor thanked Hanson for his service at his final Advisory Committee on Children & Families meeting on June 11. Hanson guided the advisory committee’s work behind the scenes.

“Steve has served with distinction as the staff liaison to this advisory committee, which with its subcommittees and workgroups, includes well over 100 judges, state agency directors, and other justice system partners,” Chief Justice O’Connor said at the meeting. “Everyone in this room is very familiar with his quiet, unassuming, and highly effective leadership style.”

During his decade of leadership, Hanson brought three summits to Ohio: the Summit on Children, the Summit on Aging, and the Domestic Relations Summit. Each conference provided judges across the state with education in the fields of juvenile, probate, and domestic relations matters.

Past and ongoing efforts by subsets of the Advisory Committee also occurred under Hanson’s guidance. Those efforts include:

• The Guardian ad Litem Rule (Sup.R. 48) currently under review by the Child Abuse Neglect and Dependency and Family Law Reform Implementation subcommittees for updates and improvements.
• Guardian standards developed by the Adult Guardianship Subcommittee whose public comment period closed this week.
• The Family Law Reform Implementation Subcommittee produced standardized domestic relations forms and parenting guidelines for Ohio that are available on the Supreme Court website.

In the juvenile delinquency realm, Hanson facilitated the production of a desktop guide for clerks. He also advocated for proper representation for youth in court which brought about amendments to the process of advising youth of their right to counsel.

Another initiative that Hanson facilitated is the codification of the Differential Response Project for families needing services, instead of entering the court system in a traditional path.

Hanson also led efforts with publishing Children, Families, and the Courts: Ohio Bulletin to provide updates on joint projects of the Supreme Court and Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

“People who choose to work in child and family law are a deeply committed group of professionals,” Hanson said. “We appreciate and have greatly benefited from the numerous hours these individuals volunteer to improve judicial responses in family matters.”