This is my first blog entry, so cut me some slack please.
On March 5, 2007 I attend the Family Court Judge’s Lunch Meeting for the Second Judicial District (Bernalillo County). There were some significant changes put in place with respect to the Court Clinic. They announced their schedule for future meetings, which is the first Monday of the month, except for January, June, July and August when there is no meeting.
The Family Court Judges had reviewed the Court Clinic Process with the clinicians, and they are immediately implementing some ideas to improve the services provided.
Effective immediately, if the parties’ mediation does not produce a settlement on all substantial issues, they are going to receive from the Court Clinician a Notice of Hearing, for a 10 minute hearing in front of the judge. This hearing will be before the judge, but will not include the mediator. At the lunch meeting this was described as an opportunity for the Court to determine how best to proceed, for example, do we need an outside child custody evaluator, does someone need substance abuse treatment, or an on-call Court Clinician to review some items of the Temporary Timesharing Plan, or is it simply that the case should proceed to an Advisory Consultation. I suspect this hearing will give the Judge’s an opportunity to give someone a reality check. If the Father goes to work at 5 a.m. every morning and Mother has been staying at home and taking care of the two-year old child, the Judge will probably tell Father that his stated goal of 50/50 timesharing is not very realistic. This hopefully will keep the Court Clinic from wasting time on the case.
The Waiver of Communication Privileges Form has been dumped. It is no longer necessary. The Court Clinic was becoming too convoluted in their role, and they hope that if the communications remain confidential, they might be more successful in ensuring the best interests of the children are met through mediated agreements. Accordingly, all of the notes from a failed Mediation will be destroyed and the Court Clinician performing the Advisory Consultation (AC) will truly be looking at the case with a fresh set of eyes. Another change is that the Mediators should not be taking phone calls from an attorney in the case. This will prevent lobbying during the mediation process.
Mercedes Marshall(sp?),Ph.D. the new head of the Court Clinic also advised us that the form and substance of the Advisory Consultation reports were going to change. During an AC the Clinician is going to assess the parents, the parent-child relationship, communication with the children, and communication between the parties, but would no longer automatically perform any psychological testing. The testing will be done on an as-needed basis.
One area where Ms. Marshall went into detail was a Parent-Child Inventory. The Clinician in an AC is going to focus on:
Is the parent capable relative to the child’s needs?
Are their specific needs of the children? (and less focus on the age-appropriateness standards)
What are the child’s social, emotional and academic needs?
In whose care and custody are the above items best developed?
Where has the child flourished?
Can siblings be kept together? She said it was uncommon for them to be split up.
What are the parents’ parenting capacities as it relates to the need of the child?
Is there a willingness to communicate and cooperate with the other parent in handling the children?
What lifestyle choices has the parent made? (drugs and alcohol for example)
Dr. Marshall finished this section of her discussion by stating it is the ultimate objective that the child have contact with both parents.
The meeting wrapped up with Judge Walker stating that people should not come back before the Court seeking a modification of child custody unless they have met the Court’s stated requirements, such as completing a drug treatment plan. Judge Walker also emphasized that Court Clinic Recommendations from a Priority Consultation are Temporary Orders of the Court.
