Rule 22.Interview with child

Rule 22 gives the judge a way to hear from a child without putting the child on the stand.

The private conference

In all matters relating to children, the family court judge has the right, within his discretion, to talk with the children, individually or together, in private conference.

Three choices are the judge's alone: whether to speak with the child at all, whether to see children individually or together, and whether the conference is private.

Who may be there

Upon timely request, the court in its discretion may permit two categories of person to be present:

• a guardian ad litem for a child who is being examined; and
• the attorneys representing the parents, if any.

Note what is absent from that list: the parents themselves. The rule contemplates lawyers in the room, not parties.

And the request must be timely. A party who wants counsel present has to ask before the conference, not object afterwards.

Read with Rule 23

Rule 22 is the constructive half of a pair. Rule 23 is the restrictive half: children generally should not be in the courtroom while testimony is taken, and should not be offered as witnesses to a parent's misconduct except where the court finds it essential.

Together they express one policy. The court wants to know what the child thinks and does not want the child made into a witness against a parent. The private conference is how it gets the first without the second.