Local attorney Linda R. Judge reports that a virtual three-day supervised visitation training course will take place for Plumas County from July 29 to 31. Shelly La Botte from the California Judicial Council will conduct the training online via Zoom with the help of others.
“Plumas County has a significant shortage of professional providers who can be recommended by the court for supervised visitation and thus often relies on professional providers from outside Plumas County and nonprofessional providers to perform this service,” said Judge. “It is very important for Plumas County to have a pool of trained professional supervised visitation providers in order to keep children and families safe.”
Supervised visitation is needed when a parent is only allowed to visit with a child under the supervision of another individual, said Judge. The purpose of supervised visitation is to ensure that parents have an opportunity to maintain contact with their children in a structured environment that is both safe and comfortable for the child.
Court judges typically order supervised visitation when the visiting parent’s fitness is in question, such as in the event of prior alcohol or substance misuse, or if there have been allegations of abuse or domestic violence.
There are two types of providers: professional supervised visitation providers who have completed formal supervised visitation training and passed a background check and nonprofessional supervised visitation providers such as a friend or family member who does not have special training.
Individuals interested in attending the supervised visitation training need to send an email with their name and address to Judge at [email protected] as soon as possible but no later than July 8.
About the training
The Judicial Council, Center for Families, Children and the Courts, Access to Visitation Grant Program will provide a Standard 5.20 (Uniform Standards of Practice for Providers of Supervised Visitation) and Family Code section 3200.5 training for new and/or existing professional providers of supervised visitation and exchange services. The training will provide multidisciplinary professionals with a framework for comprehending, conceptualizing and developing policies and best practice requirements to assist with implementation of Standard 5.20. Organizers say this training can enhance ethical professionalism, quality of service delivery and provider’s accountability towards best practices.
Topics include the following:
- Required duties and obligations as a professional supervised visitation provider.
- Key requirements and concepts of Standard 5.20.
- Identification of approaches in thinking about and understanding the general role of a provider.
- Steps to consider for decision-making processes.
- Mitigation of implicit bias and strategies for balancing neutrality.
- Record-keeping practices and considerations for documentation and writing visitation reports.
The Standard 5.20 training will provide attendees up to 27.25 hours of initial education pursuant to requirements under Family Code section 3200.5(e)(10)(A) and (C). Continuing education unit credit is available.
The three-day training will be conducted online through Zoom Govt., with a daily schedule of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Each attendee must use a laptop, not a phone or iPad, with a camera and audio that are on during the training for interactions. There will be check-ins throughout the training.
Attendees are required to complete prerequisite assignments prior to the training. These assignments will be distributed a week before the training and will be due July 28.
Attendees must pass a test to get their certificate of completion.
Each professional provider of supervised visitation must be registered in Trustline prior to providing any service — or working on any case, said Judge. Trustline completes a Live Scan as part of the application. Attendees can start their registration with Trustline using Trustline’s online portal called Guardian. If completed properly, clearances should be received within four weeks. Attendees should not complete the Trustline registration with the Department of Social Services or use their website, as this will generate a different type of approval letter.
Questions about the training can be directed to Linda Judge at [email protected] or Shelly La Botte at [email protected].
Information provided by Linda R. Judge
