Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Family Law Audit Finds Sloppy Record-Keeping

Cheryl Miller
The Recorder
January 20, 2011

SACRAMENTO — Family courts in Marin and Sacramento counties can't prove that many of the professionals they hire to sort out emotionally charged custody cases have the required training and experience to do their jobs, according to a state auditor's report released Thursday.

In Sacramento, seven of 20 court-employed mediators and evaluators couldn't show the auditor's staff that they had met qualification and training standards set by state law and the California Rules of Court, the report found. The same was true for seven mediators in Marin County Superior Court, according to the auditor.

That lack of documentation means court leaders can't evaluate whether family court professionals have the skills "to guide the parties through mediation effectively or to assess properly a family's condition and ensure that the outcome is in the best interests of the children," the auditor concluded.  FULL STORY

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