Rules & Guidelines
Mediation is the intervention of a third party with the goal
of reaching an agreement or reconciliation between disputing parties. A
mediator is a neutral intercessor who guides the deliberation of disputing
parties that results in solutions that may or may not be accepted by the
contending parties.
A mediator cannot prepare legal documents or give legal
advice and can or may refuse to attend a deposition, appear in court, or
provide statements or documents to any court, Guardian AD Litem or attorney.
Mediation will only be scheduled at the company office and will not be held at the parties attorney's office. Mediators are protected under the RCW laws in the
state of Washington for mediation.
Parties attending mediation must attend with an open mind
and willingness to listen to all proposals, so the environment can be peacefully
maintained. Children may not attend mediation nor be present while mediation is
taking place. Both parties need to bring all legal documents and any
other supporting documents that can clarify their position. Any information
that is given to the mediator, shall and will be shared with both parties.
Cancelling a scheduled mediation without 24-hour notice requires full payment for the scheduled mediation. Both parties will be met prior to mediation for an intake interview, per party is a cost of $75.00. Mediation costs start at the scheduled time, whether a party is late or not.
As an advocate, we offer to be a third party neutral
spokesperson upon your behalf. We can help you prepare, work through, and
understand any personal and non-personal issues. As a spokesperson, we can
stand as a third party to communicate issues for you. We also can help with
interceding on your behalf with a third party or another parent.
We can intercede to help you communicate through crisis such
as the death of a loved one or grievance of a breakup with your partner. We
have been very successful as a third-party intercessor in situations such as
separations, divorces, estate probates, as well as working with youth /
teenagers to help them communicate their issues with either a parent, school,
etc. Furthermore, we will not give legal advice nor will we provide counseling.
We will only offer suggestions and offer our opinion. The
final and sole decision will be left for you to fulfill. We do offer
transportation under the hourly rate for issues we are helping you work through,
and can accompany you to appointments.
Supervised visitation is offered 100% for the child. Our
duty is to protect the child from any verbal, physical or mental abuse. This
includes not allowing either parent to discuss one another or their case in
front of the child. Visitations can be held offsite as well as onsite.
Onsite visitations offer a full kitchen to where the parent
is solely responsible for bringing and preparing the food as well as cleaning
up after themselves. The onsite office is a home environment in which the
children will be asked to respect the belongings in the environment.
The child will only be transported by the supervisor for
offsite visits in the supervisors' vehicle. The parent may accompany the child.
The offsite visits shall be preapproved by the supervisor. Any cost during this
visitation is 100% the responsibility of the parent on the visit. If the cost
exceeds more than $10, to the supervisor, the parent will be responsible for paying the supervisors' cost as well.
Children must be dropped off for visitations wearing the
proper clothing for the weather at the time. Although we hold the option to
notify the other parent regarding an outside visit and where it may take
place, it is not required. Supervised visitations are uninterrupted and will
not be attended by the other parent. The parent that drops off the child must do
so 10 minutes before the visit and shall pick up the child 10 minutes after
the scheduled visitation time.
We have zero tolerance for any confrontations between the
parents before, during or after the visitations. During visitations, we will
offer suggestions and an opinion to the parents to help them with the needs of
their child. These suggestions will often be done after the visitation is
completed. A parent is given one subtle but stern warning regarding
inappropriate conversations. We have zero tolerance for any physical or mental
abuse towards the child. There will be an intake interview that both parents
must schedule separately. Intake is $75.00 per parent. Parents must bring the
parenting plan and any orders that pertain to the visitations. We do ask for
all information regarding both parties attorneys, but we do not allow
either parties, attorneys or any other third-party influence to be part of what
we offer in our supervised visitations.
We will do two reports for visitations per year and will be
submitted to attorneys as well as parties. We do not allow attorneys to prepare
any of our reports or declarations, nor do we allow outside input to be a part of this report. The reports are solely on what the supervisor has seen and dealt
with in the supervised visitations. Our goal is to make this unfortunate
experience, for the parties that have to endure, to be as peaceful and
accommodating as possible without unnecessary interference that can and will
harm the child.
Offsite drop off and pick-ups need to be preapproved by the
supervisor. We would prefer a neutral setting such as a store, library, etc.
The party that is dropping off the child must drop the child off 10 minutes
before the scheduled pick-up. The party who is picking up the child must be
there 10 minutes after the scheduled pick-up. The supervisor is not responsible
for any forgotten items that the parent or child may leave with the child or at
the opposite parents' dwelling. The supervisor will not participate in a
conversation regarding forgotten or misplaced items in front of the child.
Offsite and Onsite Rules:
If the parties need to have a third-party intervention to help with communication between the two parties, they will have to seek our services as an advocate. If the parties need to work within a modification or change their parenting, we can also offer mediation to help deliberate. For any reason, if either party will be more than 10 minutes for the drop-off or the pick-up, the parent will notify the supervisor immediately. If not notified after 20 minutes, the supervisor will contact the parent who left the visitation to come back and retrieve the child.
Please contact us regarding services and costs. I hope it
would be a comfort for you to know that our service and the service of Spokane
Family Guidance Services will only do as we feel is best within your case.