ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ACCESS AND VISITATION
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
October 23, 1998

The meeting of the Advisory Committee on Access and Visitation convened on Friday, October23, 1998, in the Judicial Building in Montgomery. The meeting began at approximately 10:15 am.

In addition to Chairman Herschel Hamner, the following members were present:

The Honorable Aubrey Ford, District Judge, Macon County
The Honorable Warren Laird, District Judge, Walker County
Gordon F. Bailey, Jr., Esq., President, Family Law Section, Alabama State Bar
Agnes Worrnley, Referee, Jefferson County Family Court
Karen Sellers, Sunshine Center; and
Renate Dauser, Office of Child Support Enforcement, DHR

Visitors attending included: Kim McLain, Coordinator, Montgomery County Juvenile Court Mediation Project; Lisa Jenkins, CASA coordinator, AOC; and James Blackston, a non-custodial parent. AOC staff attending included: Al Frazier, Jim Labaza, Bob Maddox, and Peg Walker.

Approval of Minutes of July 1,1998, Meeting: The members present were asked to review the minutes of the July 1, 1998, meeting and to propose any additions or corrections. The Committee approved the minutes without any additions or deletions.

Education and Training of Guardians ad Litem in Custody/Visitation (Smith, Anderson)

(a) Proposed Rule of Judicial Administration: Bob Maddox stated that since the bills did not pass the Legislature, the proposed rule of judicial administration concerning standards for guardians ad litem was forwarded to the Supreme Court Clerks Office on April 28, 1998, to be placed on the next agenda for the Standing Committee on Alabama Rules of judicial Administration (ARJA). Mr. Maddox reported that Alex Jackson of the Supreme Court's Clerks Office stated that a meeting time has not been scheduled yet.

(b) Future CLE Training Opportunities: Bob Maddox stated that the guardian ad litem training sessions on August 12 and in September and October have been attended well and have been well received. Kim McLain added that the total number of attorneys attending the seven seminars would probably be close to 300 and stated that the sessions being held in sites other than the major metropolitan areas (such as Florence, Fayette, Boaz, Anniston, and Enterprise) have attracted more people and reduced the amount of travel. More guardian ad litem seminars are being planned for Spring 1999 and additional topics such as visitation issues may be included. The committee recommended that Judge Hamner and Bob Maddox work on a sample letter to be sent to juvenile court judges to request them to encourage guardians ad litem in their jurisdictions to participate in future seminars.

Extrajudicial Processes and Pro Se' Materials for Custody and Visitation (Criswell and
Barbaree): Although this project was not specifically mentioned in the Committee meeting, Bob Maddox talked with Mike Criswell earlier this week, who stated that the project is still ongoing, but there are not enough results to draw conclusions yet.

Parent Education Programs in Domestic Relations Cases (Bailey and Suttle): Bob Maddox stated that a proposed rule of judicial administration concerning parenting classes was sent to the Supreme Court Clerk's Office on April 28, 1998. A meeting has not been scheduled yet.

Obligation of 1997 Grant Funds: Peg Walker provided an update on the 1997 and 1998 grant programs. (A copy is attached.) Peg noted that the committee's recommendation concerning the development of informational videos and/or brochures by the courts and Family Law Section of the State Bar for litigants in divorce, custody, and paternity cases is still pending. At the annual meeting of the National Child Support Enforcement Association, it was recognized that a number of jurisdictions were developing visual and print materials on access/visitation. The Office of Child Support Enforcement was requested to survey states to identify what information videos and publications may be available for use by other jurisdictions. Peg will check with David Arnaudo regarding this survey, as well as checking with Baltimore, MD, which has a video relating to cases involving never married parties. Gordon Bailey iterated the need for information materials and recommended that the committee continue to consider coordinating with the Alabama State Bar on the development of informational brochures and videos. It was also discussed that materials concurrently being used by DHR need to be updated. It was suggested that the AOC, the Family Law Section, and DHR would together to develop or revise these materials.

Domestic Violence Issues: Renate Dauser mentioned that several child support cases, including UIFSA cases, may have issues of domestic violence involved. In UIFSA, a non-disclosure order must be issued by the court if there is evidence of the health or safety of a child or party being threatened. The problem is what court may do this in Alabama? Also, Karen Sellers stated that Judge John Davis is spearheading the Committee on the Model Code for Protection from Abuse and would welcome any comments the judges or other interested parties would have. In addition, the committee wanted the AOC to check and see if ex parte orders are placed on the UJS protective order registry.

Other Business: Peg noted that David Gray Ross, Commissioner, Office of Child Support Enforcement, had obtained a ruling that access/visitation programs could be eligible for federal participation funds (66 percent) under the Title IV-D program. A local match of 34 percent would be required. This may be a funding resource for major projects dealing with access/visitation problems, such as supervised visitation. Karen Sellers mentioned the need to develop standards or policies for visitation in Alabama and suggested that the committee may wish to appoint a subcommittee to invite interested groups or organizations to start a dialogue on this issue. Ms. Sellers noted that there was the National Network of Visitation Centers in Minnesota and there were supervised visitation centers in Alabama. Ms. Sellers also noted that DHR had published a visitation policy. Judge Hamner requested Ms. Sellers and Judge Ford, as members of the subcommittee of supervised visitation, to look into the possibility of initiating a cooperative effort to develop a dialogue on visitation center standards.

Committee Representation: Renate Dauser mentioned that the Committee might consider adding a person from another division at DHR due to the decentralization of services. It was suggested that she send any suggestions for additional members to Judges Ford and Laird for consideration. Likewise on the services issue, Judge Hamner asked Renate to provide the committee with a services update from DHR.

Focus for 1998-1999: (Judge Hamner facilitate a general discussion to focus on direction for
98-99)

(a) Information Materials: Gordon Bailey restated the usefulness of information videos and the need to produce information materials as discussed in a previous meeting through the family law section. He would pursue the production of videos and other materials. Likewise AOC will attempt to determine what else is available that can be applied to Alabama (i.e. Baltimore Program).

(b) Committee Direction Debate: Group discussed the committee focus for 1998, highlighting the positive results gained from Guardian ad Litem training, the need for supervised visitation and parenting training (especially those new parents not possessing any parenting skills) and the importance continuing our focus on the newly conceived Both Parents programs which include both education and mediation. The group decided to place emphasis on nurturing the Both Parents programs in the hopes of promoting the duplication of the programs in other counties.

(c) Supervised Visitation: Punctuating the importance of supervised visitation, Judge Hamner ask the visitation subcommittee to develop a dialogue with the existing programs in the state to see how they could be expanded, perhaps on a state level utilizing (66% match) federal Title IV-D program funds. He also asked Renate Dauser to join the supervised visitation sub committee.

(d) Grant Solicitation for 1998: Peg Walker asked if the drafted grant solicitation request memo would meet our needs to determine what courts would like to implement a Both Parents program in their county. She related that the process would limit the administrative burden on the judges and provide the committee adequate information upon which to base program selection decisions. With committee agreement, Judge Hamner directed the memo as drafted be sent to all judges. No recommendation was made concerning whether to pass on the 10% funds match to new programs. Renate Dauser requested that county DHR representatives also be notified of the grant solicitation effort. Peg indicated that notice would also be provided to all agencies or organizations which had filed requests.

(c) Both Parents Program Model: Jim LaBaza briefed explained the Both Parents program mediation model which was developed by combining noteworthy out-of-state program elements, with committee, AOC, Walker County, and Geneva County inputs. He emphasized the goal in producing a Both Parents project model is to produce a mediation model which could be used as a baseline for any county, while at the same time limit the administrative and technical burden upon the county courts to allow the courts to focus on the operational aspects of the plan. The package included a program flow, participant questionnaires and surveys, court forms and database links for program evaluation (see attached). Mr. LaBaza requested that the members review the package and provide any information they feel should be included or excluded. He also related he would provide the individual program coordinators any necessary training in data recording and management.

Membership Committee Report: Judge Ford related that Ruth Stock was recommended to replace Ann Taylor from Mobile and a Mr. Ron Price from the Alabama Brick Corporation was recommended as an additional committee member. Mr. Price is a non custodial parent and would bring this perspective into the committee discussions. On motion from Ms. Sellers, the committee approved the subcommittee recommendations. Frank Gregory, ADC, will be advised of these recommendations.

Father Rights Representative: Judge Hamner recognized Mr. Blackstone's presence and asked if Mr. Blackston had anything for the committee at this time. Mr. Blackstone related his appreciation for being allowed to attend the meeting and that he would like to be considered for selection as a committee member, relating how his present position and background would benefit the committee. He hoped he could get any information produced by the committee and related he will provide the committee any information that he receives from various non-custodial parents having difficulty with the legal system.

Next Meeting: To allow sufficient time for Both Parents program solicitation responses, a date for the next meeting was deferred. Peg Walker will attempt to co-schedule a meeting in conjunction with a January judges training session.

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