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Joyce Dumbaugh Chernenko has announced she will seek re-election as Division I family court judge for the 1st Judicial Circuit Court, a position she has held for 27 years.
West Virginia's family court judges hear cases involving divorce, annulment, paternity, grandparent visitation, issues involving allocation of parental responsibility and family support proceedings except those incidental to child abuse and neglect proceedings.
They also hold final hearings in domestic violence civil proceedings.
Chernenko has served the Northern Panhandle in that capacity since 1996, when she was appointed by former Governor Gaston Caperton.
Since then, she was elected to a six-year term to the seat in 2002 and re-elected twice after family court judge's terms were extended to eight years.
Chernenko said, "My years in public service have been dedicated to protecting children, listening to the concerns of parents in the courtroom, and making fair, honest decisions in these difficult cases, involving the most important issues in their lives."
One of the first judges for the family court when it was established, she improved upon it by adding a parent assistance program and custody mediation program locally that were later adopted statewide through the West Virginia Legislature.
Seeing a need for separate space in Ohio and Hancock counties in which children could be protected from the emotional toll of their parents' court cases, she secured a $2,500 state Supreme Court grant for the creation of such an area at the Ohio County court facility while she and her husband, attorney Marc B. Chernenko, sponsored the creation of a similar area in Hancock County.
Dubbed the Kid's Korner, the latter area includes games, music and soft, plush toys aimed at comforting the children.
"Marc and I were so pleased to be able to help by sponsoring the Kid's Korner. We have been so blessed in our lives and wanted to give back for the children involved in our family court," said Chernenko.
She was elected president of the West Virginia Family Judicial Association by her colleagues in 2000 and 2001, a time when the family court was still new.
Chernenko was recognized by the West Virginia University College of Law and West Virginia Executive Magazine as a "Lawyer and Leader" in 2017, prior to her judicial career; and presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for her "excellence as a trial judge" by Legal Aid of West Virginia in 2022.
A Weirton native, she graduated from Bethany College in 1978 and from the WVU College of Law in 1981.