Pursuant to Rule 4(s)(9) of the Vermont Rules for Family Proceedings, the following rules are adopted to implement Rule 4(s):
Rule 1. Panel of Qualified Parent Coordinators.
(a) The Court Administrator will establish and maintain a panel of parent coordinators to carry out the functions provided by V.R.F.P. 4(s). An order designating a parent coordinator pursuant to V.R.F.P. 4(s)(2)(A) or (4)(A) will name a specific individual from that panel. (b) The Court Administrator will by contract appoint individuals to the panel who have the qualifications and training required by Rules 2 and 3 of this order and whom the Court Administrator determines have the skills and temperament to perform the duties required by V.R.F.P. 4(s). (c) The Court Administrator shall remove from the panel any parent coordinator who does not meet the requirements of Rules 3 and 4 of this order concerning further training and continuing legal education, of Rule 6 of this order concerning case supervision and peer review, and of Rule 7 of this order concerning liability insurance. The Court Administrator may remove from the panel any parent coordinator on the recommendation of the Supreme Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution Oversight Committee as provided in Rule 8 of this order. (d) The Court Administrator may remove a parent coordinator from the panel for any reason, and without any requirement or explanation of cause, by giving written notice at least 30 days in advance. Rule 2. Qualifications.
(a) To be eligible for appointment to the panel established pursuant to Rule 1 of this order, an individual must have at least five years experience working with high-conflict family situations in any of the following areas or combination of areas: mediation, domestic abuse or substance abuse services, child protective services, education, guardian ad litem, child care, mental health services, family law, guidance counseling, family home-based services, special education, or areas involving similar issues and skills. In an exceptional case, the program manager may reduce the required number of years of experience because of the intensity and level of an applicant's experience with high-conflict families; however, in no circumstances shall the number of years of experience be reduced to less than three. (b) Experience with high-conflict families must be demonstrated by appropriate documentation of the types of service provided and the number of cases covered or hours worked in each. Rule 3. Training.
(a) To be eligible for appointment to the panel established pursuant to Rule 1 of this order, an individual must present appropriate documentation demonstrating the completion of 140 hours of training in a program or programs established or approved by the Court Administrator covering the following subjects: (1) Mediation: 60 hours required, including a minimum of 28 hours basic mediation training and 32 hours divorce mediation, of which ten hours involve role play and debriefing activities. (2) Domestic and Substance Abuse: 24 hours of basic and advanced training required, including eight hours basic domestic abuse, eight hours advanced domestic abuse, and eight hours substance abuse, including alcohol abuse. Some of these hours may be included in the divorce mediation training. (3) Vermont Family Law and Court Procedures: 20 hours required of family law and family court procedures. Some of these hours may be included in the divorce mediation training. (4) Family Dynamics and Child Development: 36 hours required, including 20 hours in psychology of families, specifically divorcing family dynamics (must include the effect of divorce on children, power imbalances, communication styles) and 16 hours of child development. Some of these hours may be included in the divorce mediation training. (b) In addition, an individual who is appointed to the panel established pursuant to Rule 1 of this order must present appropriate documentation demonstrating the completion of the following training, either before appointment in a program or programs established or approved by the Court Administrator or after appointment through training provided by the Vermont Family Court Mediation Program, individual consultation with the Parent Coordination Case Supervisor, or regularly-scheduled parent coordinator consultation meetings: (1) Parent Coordination Training: 12 hours required, including parent coordination protocols, working with high-conflict families, and the Standards of Practice for Parent Coordinators prepared pursuant to Rule 5 of this Order. (2) Document Writing and Giving Testimony in Court: Eight hours required. (c) After being appointed to the panel, a parent coordinator must sit with an experienced coordinator for two cases. Rule 4. Continuing Education.
Each parent coordinator appointed to the panel established pursuant to Rule 1 of this order must present appropriate documentation demonstrating the completion of at least 20 hours of continuing education related to the work every two years and must regularly participate in case review and supervision.
Rule 5. Standards of Practice.
The Court Administrator will prepare, in consultation with the Alternative Dispute Resolution Oversight Committee, Standards of Practice for Parent Coordinators that will be distributed to each individual appointed to the panel established pursuant to Rule 1 of this order.
Rule 6. Supervision of Parent Coordinators.
(a) The Court Administrator shall designate a program manager for the parent coordination program. The program manager shall assign a parent coordinator to be the parent coordination case supervisor for the program. (b) The parent coordination case supervisor shall supervise the initial cases to which a new parent coordinator is assigned. At a minimum, the case supervisor shall closely supervise three cases with a new parent coordinator. The initial case supervision requirement may be increased at the discretion of the case supervisor in consultation with the program manager. (c) After successfully completing the initial case supervision requirement, parent coordinators are encouraged to consult with the case supervisor on subsequent cases as needed. In addition, parent coordinators shall attend a minimum of two peer review meetings per year. The peer review meetings are facilitated by the parent coordination case supervisor, and parent coordinators are expected to present for peer review a case to which the parent coordinator is currently assigned. Rule 7. Liability Insurance.
Parent coordinators are required to carry a minimum of $250,000 of professional liability insurance and provide proof of insurance annually to the program manager.
Rule 8. Complaint Process; Removal from Panel of Qualified Parent Coordinators.
(a) All complaints concerning a parent coordinator or the parent coordination program from litigants, judges, court personnel, or attorneys involved in a parent coordination case shall be referred to the Vermont Family Court Mediation Program. The program shall provide a complaint form and request that the complaint be made in writing. (b) The program manager shall investigate the complaint and review the complaint with the parent coordinator and the parent coordination supervisor. The program manager shall determine the appropriate response to the complaint which may include, in the program manager's discretion, a requirement that the parent coordinator engage in a specific number of hours of professional development, training, or case supervision; removal of the coordinator from a particular case; or temporary suspension or permanent removal of the coordinator from the panel established pursuant to Rule 1 of this order. (c) If the program manager recommends that a parent coordinator be permanently removed from the panel of qualified parent coordinators, the recommendation shall be referred to the Supreme Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution Oversight Committee, which shall make a final recommendation to the Court Administrator. The Court Administrator shall make the final decision with respect to the removal of a parent coordinator from the panel. The decision of the Court Administrator shall be final. (d) The program manager shall from time to time report to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Oversight Committee regarding the nature and type of complaints that have been made concerning the program. Vt. Admin. Ord. Of. Sup. Ct. Administrative Order No. 42
Added August 15, 2007, eff. 10/15/2007.Reporter's Notes
Administrative Order No. 42 is added to implement V.R.F.P. 4(s) added effective October 15, 2007. Rule 4(s) is intended to provide a uniform statewide procedure for the use of Parent Coordination in the Family Court. Administrative Order No. 42 formalizes the present procedures by which parent coordinators are placed on the panel from which they are drawn for specific cases. The order provides expressly for their necessary qualifications and training, and other terms of their appointment to the panel.
Rule 1 makes clear that the Court Administrator is to establish the panel of parent coordinators and that coordinators who are to be designated to serve pursuant to Rule 4(s) must be drawn from the panel. As is the present practice, appointment to the panel is by contract with the Court Administrator. Those appointed must satisfy the qualifications and training requirements of Rules 2 and 3 and, in the judgment of the Court Administrator, must have "the skills and temperament" necessary for the job. Cf. A.O. No. 18, § 4(b). Coordinators are to be dismissed from the panel by the Court Administrator if they fail to meet further requirements of service and may be dismissed by the Court Administrator on complaint pursuant to Rule 8. In addition, the Court Administrator, under the terms of the contract of appointment, may dismiss any coordinator without cause on 30 days notice.
Rule 2 reflects the current required qualifications for coordinators. The provision of Rule 2(a) for reduction of the required qualifications "in exceptional circumstances" applies to coordinators with exceptionally strong experience or background and does not call for a lessening of the requirements in order to add more coordinators.
Rule 3 reflects current training requirements. A variety of programs may satisfy the training requirements. While the Court Administrator may establish or approve some programs in advance, the rule assumes that the Court Administrator's approval of a particular course of training may be granted when an application for appointment is submitted.
Rule 4 reflects the existing continuing education requirement.
The standards adopted under Rule 5 will be based on the existing standards being used in the program. They have not been incorporated in the rule, because they may be subject to development and change with continued experience. They will be appended to and published with the Administrative Order and will also be referred to in the contracts with individual coordinators.
Rule 6 reflects the current practice, except that the required number of closely supervised initial coordination experiences has been increased from two to three.
Rule 7 reflects current practice.
Rule 8 provides a complaint procedure and a range of responses initially to be administered by the parent coordination program manager. Dismissal from the panel on complaint requires the recommendation of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Oversight Committee. The final decision on dismissal is that of the Court Administrator. As Rule 1(d) makes clear, under the standard contract the Court Administrator retains the right to dismiss a coordinator from the panel without cause on 30 days notice.