Family Court mediation in works

Rachael Levy

Friday, March 21, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Private mediators and counselors are lobbying Family Court to use their services rather than those of court-paid specialists whose recommendations on child custody and support have been attacked as worthless.

Mediators of Southern Nevada Inc., a nonprofit company with about 70 members, has been meeting with court officials who are in the process of revamping the Family Mediation and Assessment Center.

The center and its staff -- who each juggle about 175 cases a year -- have conceded that the quality of their reports have been compromised as they tried to keep pace with the caseload.

"The system as it is now doesn't work efficiently or effectively," Family Court Administrator Christina Chandler said recently.

Last fall, the chairman of the Nevada Bar Association's family law section asked the judges to stop using the court specialists' services, including mediation and investigation, until quality issues were addressed.

But some judges have continued to rely on the specialists' recommendations because they said the reports assist them in determining the truth. Court officials are working to improve the quality of the Family Mediation and Assessment Center, or FMAC, but are reluctant to make snap changes because of the important role it plays in litigation.

"Everyone's eyes are upon it, and we want it to be successful," FMAC Director LaDeana Gamble said.

An internal Family Court committee and an outside consultant are researching ways to improve report quality. And plans are under way for a pilot program that would require mandatory mediation in at least two of the eight courtrooms, Gamble said.

The program, set to be begin in July, would make conciliation talks confidential and would not allow stubborn parents to automatically move from mediation to assessment (a process where the specialist determines what is in the child's best interest and recommends child custody and visitation schedules to the judge).

Gamble said she believes that the confidentiality rule and emphasis on mediation will increase the likelihood of parents settling their disputes without judicial intervention.

The pilot program would run for three to six months with the use of court specialists and private mediators and counselors. At the end of the experiment, the success rate would be measured and a determination made as to whether it would be adopted by each Family Court judge.

"Look, the Family Court is having problems, but we're out here, we have expertise," said the president of Mediators of Southern Nevada.

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