FRANKFORT — A proposed constitutional amendment that would give the Kentucky Supreme Court the authority to create family courts was approved Wednesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

        Chief Justice Joseph Lambert put his weight behind the plan, which would go on the 2002 ballot if it clears the General Assembly.

        Under the proposal, the chief justice could tap circuit or district judges to preside over family courts.

        In judicial circuits with two or more judges, the Supreme Court could shift one judge into family court. The chief justice also could assign a district judge to a circuit court designated for a family court.

        The proposal cleared the committee without dissent.

        Committee Chairman Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said family courts ease the workload for district and circuit judges forced to juggle family cases along with other matters.

        Mr. Stivers, a lawyer, said the proposal would create more consistency in dealing with family issues that are interrelated but now divided among circuit and district courts. For instance, district courts now handle domestic violence matters while divorce cases are heard in circuit courts. With a family court, one judge could handle both issues.

        A woman with an unwanted newborn could surrender it anonymously under a bill approved by the House Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday.

        “As long as the child is not injured in any way, she can leave the child and walk away,” committee Chairman Tom Burch, the bill sponsor, said in an interview.

        Under the bill, a newborn would have to be surrendered within 72 hours at a fire station, police station or hospital. For 30 days, the baby could not be adopted — an “escape clause” for relatives who might want to assert a claim, Mr. Burch, D-Louisville, said.

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