Child Protection Mediation Program
April 1998 - Child Protection Mediation begins as a one-year pilot program to mediate pre-trial civil child abuse and neglect cases consistent with the requirements imposed by the federal Adoptions and Safe Families Act.
June 1999 - The Child Protection Mediation pilot was evaluated by the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law. Their evaluation asserts that mediation was helpful in resolving abuse and neglect cases; however a further comparison study of mediated cases verses non-mediated was needed.
March 2002 - Superior Court demonstrated its commitment to continuing the program with the signing of Administrative Order 02-12 by Chief Judge Rufus G. King.
November 2004 - The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Permanency Planning for Children Department, conducted a second evaluation of the program. The National Council studied cases for 24 months before concluding that child protection mediation met its stated goals to: expedite permanency for children, clarify legal and family issues for parents, and provide an efficient neutral process for parents, attorneys, social workers, and other concerned parties to work together to produce better results for children.
Over the past decade, participant survey data has consistently remained at the highly-satisfied rate of 85% to 95% in the categories of mediation process and mediator performance. This advocates that the program remain consistent in providing a highly successful service to the participants while continuing to uphold the commitment of best-practice standards for child protection mediation.
The goals of the Child Protection Mediation Program are:
- To provide an efficient process for the resolution of disputes that yield good solutions with high parental compliance rates.
- To protect children while preserving families.
- To help parties develop early comprehensive service agreements through an in-depth exchange of case information that will enable families to work more effectively together.
- To increase the participant's satisfaction with the process and outcomes.
Generally, mediation is a one session, multi-party, three-hour event that involves the discussion of child maltreatment issues ranging from physical, psychological, and/or sexual abuse to abandonment and/or general neglect. Mediations are held five days a week between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Child protection mediation consists of four stages: (1) the introduction/agenda development, (2) defining the issues, (3) processing the issues/problem solving, and (4) resolving the issues, agreement or disagreement and closure.
How to Apply
There are two different ways to apply:
- The open enrollment process - for mediators or facilitators who are highly trained and have a wealth of mediation or related experience.
- Traditional mediator training - for persons interested in mediating who do not qualify through open enrollment.
Applying Via Open Enrollment
- An open enrollment application must be submitted, along with the child protection supplemental questionnaire for provisional consideration.
- Conditionally qualified applicants are invited (on an as-needed basis) to demonstrate their mediation skill level by mediating a Multi-Door case.
- At the completion of the process, if you are accepted, cases are assigned based on the needs of the program.
- Applying through the open enrollment process does not guarantee selection of your application.
- Open enrollment applicants may also apply for traditional training.
- Again, applications are only reviewed when there is an immediate need for mediators.
Applying Via Traditional Mediator Training
- Submit an application of interest to mediate specifying your program of choice.
- When training is scheduled you will be invited to attend a group screening and interview.
- After the interview, if selected, you will be invited to attend the training.
- At the completion of training, if you are accepted, cases are assigned based on the needs of the program.
Multi-Door typically trains in a particular program once every three years. If you would like to be notified of our next training, please send us your email address and we will contact you accordingly.
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division
515 5th Street, N.W.
Suite 105
Washington, D.C. 20001
Open Enrollment Application
Supplemental Child Protection Application
Click here to send us your email to be notified of our next mediation program training.
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