Governor John Carney recently signed House Bill 141 into law.  The Bill amends Section 1042 of Title 10 of the Delaware Code regarding protection from abuse proceedings by creating a new subsection (f).  This subsection permits the Family Court to interview a child outside of the presence of the parties.  Specifically, the Bill provides:

“1042. Commencement of action; procedure.

(f) The Court may examine a child outside the presence of the parties for the purpose of obtaining the child’s testimony and ascertaining the truth of a matter asserted by a party to the proceeding. The Court may permit counsel to be present at the examination, and to also examine the child. The Court may permit a party who is not present for the examination to submit questions of fact for the Court to use in ascertaining the testimony of the child. The Court shall cause a record of the examination to be made and it shall be made a part of the record in the case.

[View source.]