TRAINING WORKSHOPS FOR EVALUATORS AND MEDIATORS

Conducting Custody Evaluations in the Best Interests of the Child: Techniques, New Legal and Ethical Requirements, and Child Sexual Abuse Issues

This course is approved by the Judicial Council of California to satisfy the mandatory training requirements for Family Court evaluators and mediators. We offer 8-hour, 20-hour and 40-hour workshops specifically designed to meet the curricular requirements of California Rule of Court #5.225(d)(1)-(21) and to include the mandatory training on the nature of child sexual abuse required by CA Family Code Section 3110.5 (b)(2).

Topics covered include:

• Best practices in conducting custody evaluations
• Qualifications and roles of child custody evaluators
• Legal and ethical requirements for Family Court evaluators and mediators
• Child development and children's psychological reactions to divorce
• Domestic violence prevalence and effects on children
• The effects of sexual abuse on children, children's patterns of hiding and disclosing incest
• Evidence, investigation, and evaluation procedures when allegations of domestic violence and child sexual abuse arise in custody disputes
• Assessing parenting capacity
• The paradigm of Parental Alienation Syndrome
• Evaluation techniques and testing measures
• Preparing for court testimony
• Developing recommendations for custody, visitation, and compelled counseling orders
• Writing child custody evaluation reports
• Designing parenting plans that work for families

Domestic Violence in Custody Evaluations: Keeping Children Safe

This course is approved by the Judicial Council of California to satisfy the mandatory training requirements for Family Court evaluators and mediators. We offer 4-hour, 8-hour, and 12-hour workshops specifically designed to meet the curricular requirements of Family Code Section 1816 (d) and California Rule of Court # 5.230.

Topics covered include:

• Current legislation and case law regarding domestic violence
• Current research and literature particularly related to the impact of exposure to domestic violence on children, co-occurrence of domestic violence and child physical and sexual abuse, and related to the dynamics of family violence, the impact of victimization, the psychology of perpetration, and the dynamics of power and control in battering relationships
• Review of national guidelines for judges in assessing custody evaluations in cases with domestic violence
• Risk assessment, maximizing safety for clients, evaluators, and court personnel
• The impact on parenting abilities of being a victim or perpetrator of domestic violence
• Differential family dynamics related to parent-child attachments in families with domestic violence; intergenerational transmission of familial violence
• The uses and limitations of psychological testing and psychiatric diagnosis in assessing parenting abilities in domestic violence cases
• The influence of alcohol and drug use and abuse on the incidence of domestic violence
• Understanding the dynamics of high-conflict relationships and abuser/victim relationships
• Maintaining objectivity and controlling for bias
• Procedures for obtaining collateral information
• Structuring safe and enforceable child custody and parenting plans that assure the health, safety, welfare, and best interest of the child
• Discouraging the blaming of victims for the violence and minimizing allegations of abuse
• Community resource networking

Domestic Violence Community Resource Networking Event

This Community Resource Networking Event is approved by the Judicial Council of California to satisfy the four hour domestic violence community resource networking requirement for Family Court Evaluators and Mediators that is the final four hours of advanced domestic violence training [CA Family Code Sec. 1815(a)(4) and (7), 1816(d), (d)(3) (A)-(F), and (d)(4) (A)-(E), C.R.C. # 5.215(j)(2), 5.220(g), 5.225(e), 5.230 (d)(1)(B) and (g)]. We offer it twice a year, once in Northern California and once in Southern California.

Topics covered include:

• Shelters for victims of battering
• Counseling, including drug and alcohol counseling
• Certified treatment programs described in Section 1203.097 of the Penal Code
• Legal assistance
• Job training
• Parenting classes
• Resources for immigrant victims