One of the races on the primary ballot in Daviess County is for the position of family court judge.
Three candidates are running for the office, with the top two vote-getters moving on to the general election in November.
Attorney Jennifer Hendricks said she has handled a total of more than 3,000 cases of all types that come before family court, including more than 100 emergency protective orders and domestic violence cases.
“I’ve done 880 divorces. I’ve done 1,815 what we call juvenile dependency, neglect and abuse cases and paternity actions," said Hendricks. "And I’ve done 281 adoption cases in Daviess County alone.”
Thomas Vallandingham worked as a staff attorney for a family court judge for three years. In seven years of private practice since then, he said he’s handled every type of case that comes to family court.
“Doing child custody determinations. Doing divorces, adoptions, juvenile dependency, neglect and abuse action," said Vallandingham. "I can’t think of one where I’ve not practiced it from all different angles, so as a parents’ attorney, as a child’s attorney, as a relative’s attorney.”
The third candidate is previous family court judge, Julia Gordon. She was recently ousted from the bench by the Judicial Conduct Commission for patterns of misconduct and poor judgement. However, that has not affected her eligibility to run for a new term.
Gordon has appealed that decision by the conduct commission.
The family court judge position is nonpartisan.