THE
NEUTRAL ZONE
a monthly publication by the
Community Mediation Center
Current Issue
February 2006
January 2006
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
Archives for 2004
Archives for 2003
Archives for 2002
Archives for 2001
|
|
the neutral zone
|
| Content
| |
| |
|
Quid Novi?
| |
|
The summer is underway, and with it, some changes to streamline our CMC scheduling and intake procedures. Happily, we have become very efficient. Sharon and Jen are able to catch up and keep up with all scheduling in Juvenile Court and the Criminal Sessions Court. We're experimenting! Thank you, mediators, for your patience while we figure out the best way to proceed. We anticipate having our on-line interactive calendar up and running in the next month or so. CMC is addressing the issue of mediator and party security and safety when mediations take place after hours at the Juvenile Annex. We will be keeping our Juvenile mediators closely informed about any new protocols, and will post all instructions in the Annex in each room. We would love to hear from our mediators with ideas about how to set up a good CMC mentoring program, one that does not depend solely on volunteer mediators to initiate the mentoring, but where CMC can ask for feedback from mediators through forms and through personal conversations between volunteer mediators and volunteer & staff mentors. I'll have a draft of a plan to send around to you all soon. Also needed---refresher courses for current mediators. Some ideas we've received for topics: VORP mediation when children and their parents are involved; the mechanics of the new child support rules; mediation of criminal warrants; how to deal with attorney-advocates in mediation; dependency mediation regulatory basics, and working with DCS, GALs, and parents' attorneys; drafting agreements. Relatedly, we are planning our Fall 2005, volunteer training
, and would like ideas from our mediators about how to redesign our training curriculum. If you have ideas about training, please contact us by phone or email, or attend the Program Team (see below). Our dates for training may change so stay tuned!
We are also planning to have a get-together for seasoned and new mediators after our training, and it can be a start to our mentoring program. We are participating in an exciting new model program developed especially for Knox County Juvenile Court by DCS's Susan Kovac and Catherine Dubov. It's called the Triage Team, and its purpose is to create "a multiagency team capable of reviewing children and families in crisis" and will then "make a realistic recommendation to the court, concerned agencies or persons regarding what is in the best interest of clients under review." The Team will pay attention to the individual child's needs and keep him or her from "slipping through the cracks" because of bureaucratic wranglings and apparant lack of appropriate services. The Team will always preserve "the family unit through community based service providers whenever possible" and will "recommend DCS custodial placement only after all other options have been exhausted." There will be three tiers of Teams, with the 1st tier being literally "on call" for emergency cases, including those that tend to come in at 4:30pm on a Friday afternoon! The 1st and 2nd tier are made up of members from DCS, CSA, and the Court. CMC is on the 3rd tier, which will advise the other teams when community services are required. CMC anticipates that mediation can be useful in several ways---to families directly, and also to help facilitate planning to keep a child out of custody or return the child to their family successfully and safely. Truancy is a big problem in Knox County high schools and CMC has been asked by the DA's office in Juvenile Court to participate in mediation of truancy matters involving children and their parents BEFORE any criminal or delinquent charges are filed. A child's truancy may signify simply a child in need of discipline, but it more often indicates a child whose life is out of control, and whose family is out of control. Mediation can help all parties, including the school and the state, identify how to help the family before the parents and child are charged. CMC mediators will be scheduled in the same way we now schedule daytime General Sessions mediators.
Volunteers, look for this opportunity soon in your "inboxes". | |
|
Strategic Planning Teams Scheduled to Meet--- We still need team members, so sign up with the team leaders, or send in your ideas. If you would like meeting reports for any particular Team Meeting, send an email to Jackie Kittrell, jkittrell@2mediate.org
| |
|
| |
|
rom Our VISTA Volunteers to CMC Mediators
-------------------------------------------------------- Our new staff email addresses: Jackie Kittrell:
jkittrell@2mediate.org
| |
|
Legal Language By Don K. Ferguson malice aforethought
| |
|
State and Federal Federal Volunteer Protection Act On June 18, 1997, President Clinton signed into law S.543, the "Volunteer Protection Act of 1997." The legislation, which took effect 90 days from the date of enactment, was the culmination of over ten years' effort to enact a federal law to provide some protection from liability for volunteers. The Act provides civil liability protection for non-profit or government volunteers if:
Pre-Emption and State Election of Nonapplicability The federal Volunteer Protection Act pre-empts existing state laws except those that provide broader volunteer protection than the federal law. However, the new law does allow states to enact their own legislation to make the federal law inapplicable in a particular state. Tennessee has its own set of provisions in the Code covering various kinds of volunteers and "Good Samaritans", including mediators who volunteer with a "victim-offender mediation center" as defined in TCA 16-20-101, et seq. There is no indication in our state statutes, which are scattered throughout the TCA, that they are intended to preempt the Federal Act. Exceptions Liability limitations would not apply to violations of various federal statutes including civil rights laws, crimes of violence, terrorism or hate crimes, nor to misconduct committed under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicating drugs. The law provides immunity from damages, and therefore increases the likelihood that an organization will prevail in certain lawsuits. However, it does not prevent an organization from being sued and thus incurring legal defense costs. In no case does charitable immunity or trustee/volunteer immunity provide protection in cases of gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct. There is no clear definition that separates what constitutes simple negligence from gross negligence in this context, meaning that the distinctions are left for the courts to decide on a case-by-case basis. Finally, the exact scope of what kinds of organizations are covered and who is a "beneficiary" is continuously being tested in the courts. State Law Immunity for Volunteer Mediators CMC carries professional liability insurance for itself and its staff. Rule 31 mediators who are listed with CMC have been offered professional liability insurance through our policy for a small annual premium. We are currently looking into how to extend this service to all those CMC Rule 31 mediators who would like to have it, and will be sending out info on it in the near future.
| |
|
M e d i a t i o n T o o l b o x
| |
