TRAINING WORKSHOPS FOR FAMILY AND JUVENILE COURT JUDGES

Our courses for judges are designed to comply with the judicial training requirements of Government Code §68555 and California Rule of Court #5.30.

Adjudicating Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse When Custody is in Dispute

Judicial training curriculum designed by the National Judicial Education Program and the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, under a grant from the State Justice Institute.

Topics covered include:

• Child sexual abuse: its perpetrators, prevalence, and effects on children
• The social and family dynamics of child sexual abuse
• Techniques for identifying and assisting families affected by child sexual abuse
• Children's patterns of hiding and disclosing sexual abuse occurring in a family setting
• Why child sexual abuse may first begin or be disclosed at divorce
• Incidence, prevalence and validity of child sexual abuse allegations arising in custody/visitation cases
• Admissibility of psychological expert testimony by mental health professionals
• The paradigm of Parental Alienation Syndrome
• Guidelines for judges in assessing qualifications of experts and the reliability of psychological expert testimony and evaluations performed for the court
• Understanding medical evidence and how physicians diagnose sexual abuse
• Methods for obtaining information from the child when sexual abuse is alleged
• Forming an opinion about sexual abuse
• Custody and visitation decisions in the best interests of the child, temporary and permanent awards
• The best interests of the child: ensuring the child's physical, developmental, and emotional/psychological safety
• When is it appropriate to restrict visitation or order no contact?
• What to order when there is insufficient evidence to make a decision
• Modification of custody and visitation awards
• Types of sex offender treatment, group therapy, when does a sex offender complete a treatment program?
• Legal rights, protections, and remedies available to victims of child sexual abuse
• Ordering treatment for the child

Domestic Violence in Civil Court Cases: a National Model for Judicial Education

Judicial training curriculum designed by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, under a grant from the State Justice Institute.

Topics covered include:

• Legal and behavioral definitions of domestic violence
• Community response to domestic violence
• Perpetrator/victim dynamics and their effects on children
• Protective orders: Statutes, purpose, effectiveness, grounds for issuance, relief available
• Jurisdiction, venue, standards of proof, temporary protective orders, emergency ex partes
• Trial issues, conflicts of orders, admissibility of evidence, modification, dismissals
• Monitoring compliance and enforcement of Civil Protective Orders, contempt, sentencing
• Custody and visitation in domestic violence families
• Crafting visitation orders in domestic violence cases

Cutting-Edge Approaches to Adjudicating High Conflict Custody Cases

Judicial Training Curriculum designed by Child Abuse Solutions, Inc.

Topics covered include:

• Determining excellence in child custody evaluations
• Working with and requiring excellence from your panel of expert evaluators
• Co-Morbidity of domestic violence and high conflict litigation in family courts
• Distinguishing admissible evidence from junk science in custody evaluations
• Legal strategies of litigants in custody cases that should raise red flags for judges
• Varying judicial approaches to litigants in high conflict custody cases
• The legal system’s response to children claiming abuse by a parent
• Judicial responses to Protective Parents in custody litigation
• Lifelong effects on children of legal decisions regarding abuse and custody
• What a complete custody evaluation report must include
• Avoiding bias, cognitive dissonance, counter transference and secondary trauma