Draft Practice and Approval standards Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners

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Draft Practice and Approval standardsFamily
Dispute Resolution Practitioners

• La Trobe University
• Prof Tania Sourdin
• A/Prof Lawrie Moloney
• Dr Tom Fisher
• Julia Pullen

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Background

• Ensuring quality Quality framework approach
  incorporating complaints feedback, quality forums
  Lit Review August 2003, Research Report Feb 04.
• Move to approval standards.
• Move to practice standards.
• Child inclusive approaches.
• Moves towards referral strategies

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Professional standards some issues

• Existing professional backgrounds
• Lack of defined profession - Formal
  qualifications and turf wars
• Lack of complaints mechanisms and approval body
• Threshold (approval) and maintenance (practice)
  issues.

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What and why?

• 1. The approval standards apply to any
  practitioner who seeks approval under the Family
  Law Act 1975 (the Act) to engage as a third
  party in order to assist families to manage,
  settle or resolve separation and divorce-related
  family disputes  through the use of facilitative
  processes.
• 2. The approval standards
• specify requirements for such third parties
  (family dispute resolution practitioners) who
  seek approval under the Act
• define minimum qualifications and competencies
  for family dispute resolution practitioners
• assist to inform clients, prospective clients and
  others of what they can expect with respect to
  the qualifications and competencies of
  practitioners and
• promote public confidence in facilitative 
  dispute resolution processes used to resolve,
  settle and manage family conflict.
•  

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Who?

• A family dispute resolution practitioner is a
  practitioner who acts as a third party and
  conducts primarily facilitative processes under
  the FLA family dispute resolution processes. A
  family dispute resolution practitioner is a
  skilled facilitator who must be approved by an
  approved body and who can provide evidence of
• requisite qualifications to ensure that they are
  competent to conduct family dispute resolution
  processes
• good character
• their undertaking to comply with ongoing practice
  standards and
• compliance with legislative and approval
  requirements.

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What?

• A family dispute resolution process is a
  process in which the parties to a family dispute,
  with the assistance of a practitioner(s),
  identify disputed issues, develop options,
  consider alternatives and endeavour to reach
  agreement and/or enhance their communication
  based upon the principle of self-determination.
  Family dispute resolution processes are
  additionally informed by a focus on the interests
  of any dependent family members, particularly
  children, affected by the dispute.

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How?

• A family dispute resolution practitioner who
  provides information in the context of a family
  dispute resolution process must be competent to
  do so and possess the appropriate skills and
  expertise.
• Until 1 January 2008, a family dispute resolution
  practitioner must have completed at least 5 days
  training in conflict resolution or mediation
  including at least one training course of a
  duration of at least 3 days, and have engaged in
  at least 10 hours of supervised mediation in the
  12 months immediately following completion of
  that training (supervised mediation is defined
  in the regulations), and have

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How?

• Experience Qualified OR
• (i) Providing evidence that they hold an
  appropriate degree, diploma or other
  qualification from a university, former college
  of advanced education or other tertiary
  institution that either includes assessable
  training in the core areas and to the extent set
  out below or have, in addition, attended
  assessable training in the areas and to the
  extent set out below.
• (ii) assessable training in the core areas set
  out below. The assessable training can be
  completed as part of (i) above or to the extent
  that this is not the case, the practitioner must
  have attended additional assessable training in
  the areas set out below at a minimum of National
  framework Level 4 standard

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Training / Qualifications

• AT LEAST 35 hours of basic conflict resolution
  and mediation theory education and skills
  training, including ethics, intercultural
  awareness and the capacity for self-reflection
• AT LEAST 35 hours of training on family, couple
  and child dynamics particularly relating to
  separation and divorce, with some attention to
  recognising abnormal indicators and
• AT LEAST 35 hours of training in family law that
  includes the following areas
• divorce and separation
• asset division and financial issues
• child support
• residence and contact
• violence and abuse
• agreement drafting
• relevant case law and precedents
• procedures that pertain to the Family Court,
  Federal Magistrates Service, or any other
  decision-making tribunal that may develop
• AT LEAST 14 hours training in child-focused
  processes and practice,
• AT LEAST seven hours of training and/or
  facilitated discussion with respect to intake and
  assessment procedures and to outward referral
  resources and procedures.
• AT LEAST seven hours of supervised practice
  working with clients in a family dispute
  practitioner as a co facilitator.

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Attaining competence/certification

• Training vs performance
• Qualifications / training
• Tertiary degrees
• Specific training
• Competencies

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Maintaining and supporting practice

• Professional development
• Training
• Supervision how defined?
• Other - procedural fairness, children, violence

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Practice standards

• 1 - Application
• 2 - Description of family dispute resolution
  process
• 3 - Agreement to Enter into Facilitative Process
  and Preparation
• 4 - Children
• 5 - Family Violence
• 6 Fair practice
• 7 - Competence
• 8 - Inter-Professional Relations
• 9 - Confidentiality
• 10 - Procedural Fairness
• 11 Information provided by the practitioner
• 10 - Termination of Family dispute resolution
  process
• 11 - Charges for Services
• 12 - Making Public Statements and Promotion of
  Services

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Consequences for non-compliance

• Guidelines or requirements?
• Breaches and complaints
• Self-regulation
• External system
• Disciplinary action
• Revocation of approval
• How effective?