Parenting coordinator
Encyclopedia
Parenting coordinator is a relatively new practice that is used, in some US states, to manage on-going issues in child custody
and visitation cases by professional psychologist or a lawyer assigned by the Court. There are 10 states as of May, 2011 that have passed legislation regarding parenting coordinators: Colorado (since 2005), Idaho (2002), Louisiana (2007), New Hampshire (2009), North Carolina (2005), Oklahoma (2001), Oregon (2002), Texas (2005), Massachusetts and Florida (2009).. Parenting Coordinators are of two types: mental health professionals with at least a Master's degree in a mental health or pastoral field of counseling, or they are attorneys who are in good standing with their state's Bar Association.
If either party does not agree with the PC recommendations, then he/she can file a motion with the court to make a decision on the disputed issue. Either party can also ask court to appoint a new PC to the case, but has to provide sufficient evidences to convince the court that valid reasons exist.
have jurisdiction and authority to insure protection of and to redress deprivation of rights secured by United States Constitution
.
In the case of Hastings v. Rigsbee, Court of Appeal in Florida stated "it is never appropriate for a parenting coordinator to
act as a fact-finder or otherwise perform judicial functions".
The lower court order that was entered on the hearsay
testimony of the coordinator was reversed and remanded.
Appellate Division of the NY Supreme Court noted in Grisanti v. Grisanti case that "it was improper for
the court to condition future visitation on the recommendation of a mental health professional".
Similarly, in Rueckert v. Reilly the same court said: "mother correctly contends that the court improperly delegated its authority when it
directed the court-appointed expert to determine the frequency and duration of the mother's supervised visitation...In addition, the [lower] court should not have required the mother to pay the cost of visitation without
determining the "economic realities," including her ability to pay and the cost of the visitation service."
Court of Appeals of Oregon "conclude[d] that the trial court plainly erred in denying husband parenting time without making appropriate findings" and reversed the order that erroneously granted PC the "authority to deny husband parenting time". Idaho Supreme Court
stated: "The goal of a parenting coordinator is to empower the parties and minimize conflict in resolving parenting disputes. The judicial function of final decision-maker remains with the court and is not delegated through." There were several other appellate court decisions that prohibited deferral to a parenting coordinator custody and parenting time enforcement issues.
There is possible conflict of interests when same psychologist provide Custody Evaluation and appoints himself into Parental Coordinator role, so laws in many states and AFCC guidelines explicitly prohibit this practice. However, in small communities choice of PC can be very limited.
on bill about court-appointed the parental coordinators for following reasons:
According to some lawyers, guideline documents from the psychologist boards have a lot of inspirational statements, but not malfeasance oversight to protect parents and children from abuse of power by PC. In some cases, the court order may be missing mandatory state requirement to set forth the minimum amount and access of parenting time
for noncustodial parent, which can cause PC to step into judicial authority territory since they will be able to modify amount of the parenting time or change supervised/unsupervised arrangement of the visits - exceeding the PC scope of authority allowed by AFCC guidelines. This can cause an appeal
of the court order that appointed the PC or a civil rights
lawsuit.
Many parents and lawyers find it very hard to justify the reasons for the Parenting coordinator's decisions and financial charges. There is a possible conflict of duties since the PC has judicial, executive, and legislative power when deciding on parents' conflict resolution; i.e. they can establish rules, decide whether parents follow the rules, punish parent who do not follow the rules, and get financial interest from the time they spend. This may lead some PC to motivate parents to report every minor problems and suggestions to the PC that can lead to delay of conflict resolution between parents.
There also was an official debate in Oklahoma Legislature
that parenting coordination can interfere with civil liberties
and conflict with Fourth Amendment
: Common civil liberties include the rights of people, freedom of religion
, and freedom of speech
, and additionally, the right to due process
, to a trial
, to own property
, and to privacy
. The debate stemmed around the fact that the pc can demand to know details about parties conversations, check on conditions of their house, ask questions about their personal life, get copies of documents without no warrant request, since the PC has the power to control and regulate many aspects of parent time with their child up to recommending court to limit parent contact with child. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
says that a state may not make a law that "abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States" and no state may "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Title 42 United States Code Section 1983 states that citizens can sue in federal courts
any person that acting under a color of law
to deprive the citizens of their civil rights under the pretext of a regulation of a state. Oklahoma
was the first state to pass a PC statute and also the first state to later determine the statute to be unconstitutional. As a result, the statute has been amended, see Title 43 Oklahoma Statutes Supp.2003 § 120.3 for details. Currently, the scope of practice has been limited to rendering only ”minor and temporary" decisions.
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
and visitation cases by professional psychologist or a lawyer assigned by the Court. There are 10 states as of May, 2011 that have passed legislation regarding parenting coordinators: Colorado (since 2005), Idaho (2002), Louisiana (2007), New Hampshire (2009), North Carolina (2005), Oklahoma (2001), Oregon (2002), Texas (2005), Massachusetts and Florida (2009).. Parenting Coordinators are of two types: mental health professionals with at least a Master's degree in a mental health or pastoral field of counseling, or they are attorneys who are in good standing with their state's Bar Association.
Concepts
The parenting coordinator usually meets with both parties regularly, receives day-to-day questions and complaints about any aspect of a party's conduct, and makes recommendations to the parties. These recommendations effectively become obligatory for parents to follow because the Parental Coordinator can later testify in court about the non-compliance. PC have extremely wide range of issues they can decide on parents relations with their children, including but not limiting to:- In most of the states there is a law required that court-ordered parenting planParenting planA Parenting Plan or Custody Agreement is required by the district court along with divorce paperwork when parents divorce or separate. A Parenting Plan allows parents to avoid future conflicts arising from a lack of guidelines in dealing with responsibilities relating to the children...
s must set forth the minimum amount of parenting time and access (i.e. supervised/unsupervised) a non-custodial parent is entitled to have. According to laws of many states and AFCC guidelines, the Parenting Coordinator cannot change the court order, only the minor changes or clarification of parenting time/access schedules or conditions including vacation, holidays, and temporary variation from the existing parenting plan is allowed. - PC can limit where parents are can and cannot go during his/her daily routine with the child, and what activities are allowed.
- PC can prevent parents from discussing certain topics with their children in their conversations.
- PC can take complaints from either party about almost any subject of the other parties conduct during the past visit, and make decisions the parties must abide to. For example, PC can decide what sports kids will attend, what friends they can visit, what religious services to attend, what food parents can feed them and more.
- PC can make decisions in cases when the parties do not agree on child non-urgent medical care.
- PC can decide when, where, and how the non-custodial parent's family and friends are allowed to see the children.
- PC can report suspected child abuse to Child Protective ServicesChild Protective ServicesChild Protective Services is the name of a governmental agency in many states of the United States that responds to reports of child abuse or neglect. Some states use other names, often attempting to reflect more family-centered practices, such as "Department of Children & Family Services"...
. - And many more of what can be considered as “child best interests”.
If either party does not agree with the PC recommendations, then he/she can file a motion with the court to make a decision on the disputed issue. Either party can also ask court to appoint a new PC to the case, but has to provide sufficient evidences to convince the court that valid reasons exist.
Financial charges
Parental coordinators charge parents involved for the time they have spent with the children according to the rates they have established as mental health or law professionals. Parents normally split the changes according to their court order.Guidance and Oversight
Parental Time Coordination are controlled and reviewed by boards of mental health professionals who are often involved in the supervision of parental time themselves. If complaint to the board is filed, and either the complaining party or the PC believes that the complaint cannot be resolved, either party can file a motion to the court to terminate the PC’s services. The boards of mental health professionals have very limited authority in regulation of civil rights violations, because only US state and federal courtsUnited States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
have jurisdiction and authority to insure protection of and to redress deprivation of rights secured by United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
.
Limitations
The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (www.afccnet.org) has published guidelines and standards for Custody Evaluation (currently dated May 2005). These guidelines was reviewed and accepted as national standard by most of the states that allows parenting coordinators. According to the guidelines, PCs should only make minor adjustments to parenting time schedule, but cannot modify the court order:In the case of Hastings v. Rigsbee, Court of Appeal in Florida stated "it is never appropriate for a parenting coordinator to
act as a fact-finder or otherwise perform judicial functions".
The lower court order that was entered on the hearsay
Hearsay
Hearsay is information gathered by one person from another person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience. When submitted as evidence, such statements are called hearsay evidence. As a legal term, "hearsay" can also have the narrower meaning of...
testimony of the coordinator was reversed and remanded.
Appellate Division of the NY Supreme Court noted in Grisanti v. Grisanti case that "it was improper for
the court to condition future visitation on the recommendation of a mental health professional".
Similarly, in Rueckert v. Reilly the same court said: "mother correctly contends that the court improperly delegated its authority when it
directed the court-appointed expert to determine the frequency and duration of the mother's supervised visitation...In addition, the [lower] court should not have required the mother to pay the cost of visitation without
determining the "economic realities," including her ability to pay and the cost of the visitation service."
Court of Appeals of Oregon "conclude[d] that the trial court plainly erred in denying husband parenting time without making appropriate findings" and reversed the order that erroneously granted PC the "authority to deny husband parenting time". Idaho Supreme Court
Idaho Supreme Court
The Idaho Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the state of Idaho, composed of the chief justice and four associate justices.The decisions of the Idaho Supreme Court are binding on all other Idaho state courts.The only court that may reverse or modify its decisions is the Supreme Court of...
stated: "The goal of a parenting coordinator is to empower the parties and minimize conflict in resolving parenting disputes. The judicial function of final decision-maker remains with the court and is not delegated through." There were several other appellate court decisions that prohibited deferral to a parenting coordinator custody and parenting time enforcement issues.
There is possible conflict of interests when same psychologist provide Custody Evaluation and appoints himself into Parental Coordinator role, so laws in many states and AFCC guidelines explicitly prohibit this practice. However, in small communities choice of PC can be very limited.
Removal
If parents are not happy with their parental coordinator, the only way to remove PC from the case is to have judge approve a new Parental Time Modification order. Judges are often opposing to remove parenting coordinator requirement from the high-conflict cases, but court can assign a different PC to the parents when a conflict arrise with the current PC. Sometimes PCs continue to be involved with family for several years, which can cost thousands of dollars to both parties. PCs, however, have the right to resign when a complaint is filed against them with psychologists licensing board, or when lawsuit is filled with State or Federal Court. In this case the parties may ask court that a new PC be assigned. There are also recommendations from AFCC that "PC shall not serve when a conflict of interest arises when any relationship between the PC and the participants or the subject matter of the dispute compromises or appears to compromise a PC’s impartiality".Controversy
There has been a 2004 veto from Florida’s governor Jeb BushJeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
on bill about court-appointed the parental coordinators for following reasons:
According to some lawyers, guideline documents from the psychologist boards have a lot of inspirational statements, but not malfeasance oversight to protect parents and children from abuse of power by PC. In some cases, the court order may be missing mandatory state requirement to set forth the minimum amount and access of parenting time
for noncustodial parent, which can cause PC to step into judicial authority territory since they will be able to modify amount of the parenting time or change supervised/unsupervised arrangement of the visits - exceeding the PC scope of authority allowed by AFCC guidelines. This can cause an appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
of the court order that appointed the PC or a civil rights
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
lawsuit.
Many parents and lawyers find it very hard to justify the reasons for the Parenting coordinator's decisions and financial charges. There is a possible conflict of duties since the PC has judicial, executive, and legislative power when deciding on parents' conflict resolution; i.e. they can establish rules, decide whether parents follow the rules, punish parent who do not follow the rules, and get financial interest from the time they spend. This may lead some PC to motivate parents to report every minor problems and suggestions to the PC that can lead to delay of conflict resolution between parents.
There also was an official debate in Oklahoma Legislature
Oklahoma Legislature
The Legislature of the State of Oklahoma is the biennial meeting of the legislative branch of the government of Oklahoma. It is bicameral, comprising the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Oklahoma Senate, with all members elected directly by the people. The House of Representatives has 101...
that parenting coordination can interfere with civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
and conflict with Fourth Amendment
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
: Common civil liberties include the rights of people, freedom of religion
Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
, and freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, and additionally, the right to due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
, to a trial
Right to a fair trial
The right to fair trial is an essential right in all countries respecting the rule of law. A trial in these countries that is deemed unfair will typically be restarted, or its verdict voided....
, to own property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
, and to privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
. The debate stemmed around the fact that the pc can demand to know details about parties conversations, check on conditions of their house, ask questions about their personal life, get copies of documents without no warrant request, since the PC has the power to control and regulate many aspects of parent time with their child up to recommending court to limit parent contact with child. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
says that a state may not make a law that "abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States" and no state may "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Title 42 United States Code Section 1983 states that citizens can sue in federal courts
United States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
any person that acting under a color of law
Color (law)
In U.S. law, the term color of denotes the “mere semblance of legal right”, the “pretense or appearance of” right; hence, an action done under color of law colors the law to the circumstance, yet said apparently legal action contravenes the law....
to deprive the citizens of their civil rights under the pretext of a regulation of a state. Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
was the first state to pass a PC statute and also the first state to later determine the statute to be unconstitutional. As a result, the statute has been amended, see Title 43 Oklahoma Statutes Supp.2003 § 120.3 for details. Currently, the scope of practice has been limited to rendering only ”minor and temporary" decisions.