General Information
Dates:
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Registrations are due by Tuesday, August 2, 2011.
Location:
Washburn University School of Law
Room 120
17th and MacVicar Streets
Parking: south of law school.
Get Directions and Maps
Sponsors:
Children and Family Law Center at Washburn University School of Law and
The Law Offices of Bud Dale
Program Fee (includes reporting hours of attendance to the Kansas CLE Commission, materials, lunch, and refreshments):
» $180 - Both days paid by August 2
» $200 - Both days after August 2
» $120 - One day paid by August 2
» $140 - One day after August 2
Please make checks payable to:
Washburn University School of Law.
Continuing Education Credit:
» CMEs: Approved for 6 hours
» CLEs: Approved for 13.5 hours and 1 hour of ethics
The workshop will qualify you to accept court-ordered cases.
Cancellations:
If you cannot attend the seminar, you may send a substitute. If you cancel your registration at least two (2) business days prior to the seminar, your registration fee will be refunded. After that date, non-attending registrants will receive the course materials. Please allow two weeks for delivery. The sponsors reserve the right to cancel this seminar and return all fees.
Assistance for Special Needs:
If you require any special services or auxiliary aids to assist you while attending the program, please contact Donna Vilander at (785) 670-1105.
5th Annual Kansas Domestic Case Management Training
About the Workshop
Domestic case management continues to develop in Kansas. The first day of the workshop focuses on what happens from the time a court appoints a case manager through developing a child-centered parenting plan. The day ends with ethical considerations for case managers. The second day involves an in-depth look at issues and tools case managers can use to understand and resolve parental conflict, divorce impasse, and domestic violence. The second day also covers issues unique to case management in rural communities. The workshop ends with "The View of Case Management from the Bench."
Who Should Attend
Attorneys, judges, mediators, mental health professionals, and case managers
Schedule
Thursday • August 11, 2011 • Basic Training
Nuts and Bolts of Being a Case Manager:
From Referral to Parenting Plans
8:00 a.m. — Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. — Welcome
8:40 a.m.
Examining the Kansas Case Management Statute
Tom Griswold, Payne & Jones, Overland Park, Kansas
This session will review the three Kansas statutes related to domestic case management. This review will address the intent and scope of the statutory language, the portions of the statutes that have occasionally been challenged or proven difficult to interpret, and how courts have interpreted the statutes. This session will also examine the statutory provisions related to the training case managers, describe how different Kansas courts have used case managers, and review the available case law.
9:30 a.m. — Break
9:45 a.m.
Case Management Basics: Everything Needed to Start a Case
Bud Dale, Ph.D., J.D., Law Offices of Bud Dale, Topeka
This session will cover everything from the beginning of a case management referral from the court through starting the case with the parents to closing a case. The presenter will share documents used by the courts and case managers. This will include a review of case management orders, a detailed review of choices case managers have about various procedural policies, and what is practical considerations for writing and submitting case management recommendations. All participants will leave with copies of all of the documents, either actual or redacted copies, that are needed to practice case management.
11:10 a.m.
Constructing Child-Centered Parenting Time Plans
Sheri Keller, B.S.W., Shawnee County Domestic Court Services and Leader, Horizons, Topeka
Kansas is one of many states that require parenting time plans. This session will review the legal requirements of parenting time plans, how various judicial decisions frame issues for the parenting time plan, and how to construct comprehensive parenting time plans. Placing the child in the middle of the parenting time plan, but not in the middle of the conflict, is the focus of this session. The presenter will demonstrate how to maximize benefit to the child via beginning with the child's developmental needs and schedule rather than the parents' demands.
Noon — Lunch (provided)
1:00 p.m.
Limited Case Management: A Short-Term Relationship
Kim Kadel, Licensed Clinical Marriage & Family Therapist, Counseling & Mediation Center, Wichita
1:50 p.m. — Break
2:00 p.m.
Understanding the Financial Dynamics of Contested Custody
Lori Yockers, Administrative Hearing Officer, Shawnee County District Court, Topeka
Parental disputes in high conflict families have numerous sources and take on various forms. While case manager will seldom, if ever, have responsibility to child support calculations, understanding the legal financial responsibilities of the parties often provides information about the conflicts. In this session, the presenter will help explain the impact of financial considerations, review the interactions between thinly-veiled conflict and financial anxieties, and educate case managers about when to appropriately refer the issues back to the counsel for the parties.
2:50 p.m. — Break
3:00 p.m.
E-mail: Friend or Foe of Case Management
Ronnie Beach, Ed.S., Conflict Resolution Services, Inc., Olathe, Kansas, and Independence, Missouri
Email communications can be a godsend for parents (and case managers) or they can become a means through which parents continue the disputes. This session will examine how to use email in positive ways to facilitate necessary communications when having the parties meet face-to-face is either not possible or not beneficial. This session will review how individual emails or specially designed internet communication programs can be used within case management. The session will include development of a set of guidelines for case managers and parents to incorporate into their processes.
3:50 p.m. — Break
4:00 p.m.
Case Management Ethics for Attorneys
Linda Elrod, Distinguished Professor of Law, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas
Case managers must often make important decisions about children and families during periods of high conflict. Identifying and understanding ethical principles can help case managers effectively function in cases where there are sustained periods of high conflict and intense emotions. Like other areas of alternative dispute resolution, attorneys and mental health case managers must bring a variety of skills to the dispute, remain child- and family-focused throughout the turmoil, and develop objective facts and conclusions. This presentation will help case manager learn where to anticipate ethical binds and dilemmas, how to avoid common pitfalls, and how to protect themselves with appropriate policies and procedures.
4:50 p.m. — Adjourn
Friday • August 12, 2011 • Advanced Training
Conceptual Models, Domestic Violence & Rural Practice
8:00 a.m. — Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m.
Understanding Resistances to Co-Parenting: Conceptual Models and New Research
Bud Dale
In this session, the presenter will outline the "divorce impasse" model for understanding high conflict families. This is the model taught at the AFCC national trainings on parent coordination. This model combines an understanding of the judicial and legal systems, within which parents find themselves, with how various psychological vulnerabilities play out in the parental conflict and divorce impasse. The session will also review social science research relevant to developing parenting time plans that focus on the children's needs, facilitate contact between parents and their children, and reduce conflict.
9:45 a.m. — Break
10:00 a.m.
Domestic Violence and Case Management
Gary West, J.D., Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, Topeka
High conflict cases often involve domestic violence. This presentation will provide participants with the means for screening for domestic violence and the tools for working with parties when domestic violence either may or may not be an identified problem. The presentation will review systems issues related to referrals into case management, difficult decisions courts and case managers encounter when faced with widely discrepant views of past and present events, and common dynamics when domestic violence is involved.
11:00 a.m. — Break
11:10 a.m.
Domestic Case Management in Rural Kansas Communities
Dennis Depew, J.D., Depew Law Firm, Neodesha, Kansas
Case management takes different forms in different venues. The demands of practicing in a rural community change what case managers do and how they do it. In rural communities, there are, for example, often fewer mental health resources and more distance between the homes of the parties. These factors (and others) require the case manager to use different communication methods and construct plans that take into account task-specific demands faced by parents in smaller communities. This session will outline an approach to case management from this setting.
Noon — Lunch (provided)
1:00 p.m.
What Attorneys Want in Case Management
Marilyn Wilder, J.D., Adrian & Pankratz, Newton, Kansas
Attorneys for the parties want case managers to be fair, objective, and thorough. Whether investigating difficult fact patterns or coordinating numerous services in complex cases, attorney want to be assured that their client's perspective is being heard, that appropriate concerns are being checked or investigated, and that decisions or recommendations are made in a timely fashion. Attorneys can also frequently assist their clients in understanding the case management process and the need for the case manager to remain neutral and objective. This session will also cover how attorneys might productively advocate and communicate with case managers.
1:50 p.m. — Break
2:00 p.m.
The View of Best Practices from the Bench
Kansas District Court Judges:
The Honorable Kathleen Lynch, Wyandotte County
The Honorable Allen Slater, Johnson County
The Honorable Jean Schmidt, Shawnee County
This panel will discuss how case management works in each of their jurisdictions. This will include the kinds of cases that get referred into case management and how case managers are assigned in accordance with the dynamics and issues in the case. Each jurist will review their perspective on case management, as well as the benefits and problems that accompany using this alternative dispute resolution technique. The panel will address how they handle case management objections and important aspects of the judge-case manager relationship. The panel will also answer concerns and questions from the audience.
3:15 p.m. — Adjourn
Washburn University School of Law
Continuing Legal Education
1700 SW College Ave.
Topeka, KS 66621
(785) 670-1105
cle [at] washburnlaw.edu
