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Resolution Washington

Resolution Washington. Dispute Resolution Centers’ Impact on Washington State Court Systems. Examples of DRC impact.

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Resolution Washington

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  1. Resolution Washington Dispute Resolution Centers’ Impact on Washington State Court Systems

  2. Examples of DRC impact • Family case:Parties repeatedly returning to Superior Court to haggle over changes to parenting plan, child support, moving, get other party cited for contempt. If mediation successful, never see them again. • Neighborhood case:Parties disputing over property line, fence, disrespectful communication. Multiple, repeated calls to police/sheriff to come out to properties to control the other party. Calls to code enforcement. Back and forth anti-harassment orders. Mediation may help them talk and listen, resolve things, develop approach on how to communicate in the future and not use county/court resources in future. • Small Claims case: Parties in conflicts over payment of bill for car repair, driveway paving, personal loan, car accident, rental deposit are able to work out agreements that preclude a trial and follow through on agreement reduces likelihood of default on agreement collection hearing.

  3. Examples of DRC impact • Victim Offender Mediation Case : Two high school males played hooky one afternoon from school. They found some cans of spray paint in one of their families’ garage and went around the neighborhood spray painting fences and knocking over trash cans. They were caught when a older woman saw them and called police. She and others had been afraid because their neighborhood suffered some gang violence recently and felt threatened by all that was going on. The boys were diverted from court but mandated to Victim Offender Mediation. They met with three victims of their vandalism and learned of the impact of their crime and how vulnerable it made the victims feel. They agreed to come out to paint over their graffiti and committed to attending school regularly and not committing any more acts of vandalism. The victims felt better knowing they personally hadn’t been targeted and felt that they had made a positive impact on the young men.

  4. What are Dispute Resolution Centers? • Created by local legislative authority (County commissioners, city councils) • 18 DRCs around Washington State (17 actively providing services). • 15 Non-Profit Organizations, 2 City departments, 1 County program. • Authorized under RCW 7.75 originally in 1984 as part of Court Improvement Act, with District Court filing fee funding added in 1990. • Offer services to clients regardless of ability to pay.

  5. Reach of DRCs • DRCs are authorized in 20 of Washington’s 39 counties. • 91% of state’s residents have access to a DRC in their home county. • Residents of counties close to DRC’s can access services there, e.g., Mason, Grant, Klickitat, Stevens, Whitman Counties.

  6. Services commonly offered by Resolution WA Member DRCs • Mediation, confidential, voluntary, convenient • Face-to-face mediation/telephone mediation • Telephone Conciliation • Case Intake and Development • Referral to other resources • Training • Mediation training, Advanced mediation training .e.g. family law mediation, multiparty, Victim Offender, Organizational conflict, Parent/Youth • Conflict Resolution and Communication skills workshops, for businesses, organizations, groups • Peer Mediation training in schools

  7. Types of mediations • In 2002, Resolution Washington member DRCs assisted in 16,974 cases, mediating over half these cases. • Small Claims Court contested cases 26% • Parenting Plan & modification cases 23% • Landlord/Tenant cases 19% • Neighborhood cases 10% • Victim Offender cases 5% • Divorce Property Division Cases 5% • Consumer/Merchant, Commercial 4% • School/Education 3% • Parent-Teen Conflict 2% • Other: employment, workplace, property, 3% anti-harassment, real estate, multiparty, cross cultural

  8. Impact on District Court • Filing fee funding from all civil cases (Users can ask to have fee waived due to financial hardship.) $15 Maximum for small claims filings, $10 for all others. • Small Claims Cases: 12 of 18 centers provide Small Claims mediation services • Pre-trial mediation hearing on separate day at courthouse, return for court if unresolved. Court may mandate effort or just encourage it. • Mediation takes place on same day as trial after judge encourages use via script read from the bench. • Regularly scheduled mediation. • Anti-harassment: Currently seldom used/referred to mediation. Mediation most appropriate for non-Domestic Violence cases between neighbors, family members, co-workers.

  9. Impact on Superior Court • No filing fee mechanism currently exists to support the DRCs’ positive impact on Superior Court.37%of all non-SCC cases are Family related cases that reduce caseload of contested cases in Superior Court. • Family Law: • Marriage Dissolution Property & Asset Liability Division, Parenting Plan, Parenting Plan Modification. • Models differ: Some counties require mediation of parenting plan if no agreed order (expect for DV cases), some courts or family court facilitators refer parties to mediation. Some counties enforce Dispute Resolution provision ofPP, party refusing pays court/attorney cost, other counties don’t.

  10. DRC Superior Court Impact(Continued) • Other Civil Filings: One DRC, Pierce County, provides settlement conferences. Mostly attorneys refer to private attorney-mediators for resolution of personal injury or commercial disputes. • Generally the style of mediation practiced in these settings is quite different from the DRC mediation process. Evaluative mediation approach. Shuttle mediation, keep parties separate after opening intro. Share with each side the strengths and weaknesses of their case. (Akin to Settlement conferencing.)

  11. DRC Mediation approach • DRCs generally provide mediation from a Facilitative approach. • Parties retain control of the outcome. • Focus is on parties finding interest-based solution that works for both/all sides. • Mediators serve as process guides, not content experts. Facilitating the parties’ mediation process. • Mediators don’t offer input on solutions or strengths/weaknesses of “case”. • Voluntary throughout, including settlement agreement.

  12. DRCs Impact on Juvenile Courts Victim Offender Mediation Programs:7 centers offer Victim Offender meeting programs that bring together juvenile offenders (most often youths who have gone through diversion process) with the victims of their crimes, shoplift, malicious mischief, theft, simple assault to talk about the impact of their activity and to have them make amends. Funding comes mainly from Governor’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee but is time limited. 2nd major source is Juvenile Courts then County General Funds. In 2001, 390 cases were mediated statewide. Hope is that victims feel greater sense of resolution, youth connects with having hurt people, reduce recidivism. Parent/Youth Mediation:5 or more centers help parents and their children address internal family conflict.This has a positive impact on Children in Need of Services and Youth at Risk Petition caseloads.

  13. Impact on Municipal Courts • Very few DRCs have found methods to assist with Municipal Court caseloads. • The two City based programs, Community Mediation Service in Vancouver/Clark County and Bellevue Community Mediation have developed strong referral relationships with city programs to refer neighborhood and community conflicts for mediation and telephone conciliation. Over 900 situations handled in 2001. • Other centers struggle to maintain strong referral relationships with law enforcement, code enforcement and animal control offices to have referrals result in mediations.

  14. DRCs impact on public services • State Agencies and consumers • DRC Mediators in Inter-Agency mediator pool address workplace disputes • Law Enforcement • Code Enforcement • Animal Control • Mediation Training skills in hands of state, city and county employees. • School Districts (workplace & peer mediation)

  15. DRC Sources of Funding • 2001 figures $ 1,094,983 $ 494,758 $ 285,371 $ 1,047,128 $ 2,922,240 • District Court Filing Fee • Fees for service (mediation and training fees) • Non-Public Funding (Donations, United Way, Foundations etc.) • Other Public Funding Governor’s Juvenile Justice Ad. Comm., County General Funds, Juvenile Court, School Districts, City grants, Federal Funds

  16. How is quality of service maintained? • Resolution Washington has minimum standards for mediator certification: 36-40 hour basic mediation training which covers: Conflict Theory and Styles, Communication Skills, Cultural Differences, Collaborative Negotiations & other Types of ADR and negotiations, the mediator’s role, ethical and legal issues, mediation models & styles, intake and assessment, demonstrations and 12 hours of role playing. Written Exam, mock mediation practice. Internship: Observe experienced mediators, write analysis of mediations and debrief with mediators. Co-mediate with certified mediators a minimum of 24 hours in at least 3 cases who file written critiques. Center determines intern’s eligibility to become certified mediator. 18 competencies. Standards of Practice: Mediators must adhere to Standards of Practice of the Washington Mediation Association. Continuing Ed: 20 hrs every 2 years: in-services, conferences, reading

  17. Service Quality (continued) • Co-Mediation Model: Most centers utilize a co-mediation service model. This allows less experienced or uncertified mediators to work with a more experienced co-mediator. Also allows centers to mirror disputant diversity (gender, age, language, culture) and have internal oversight within mediator pool. • Client Evaluations: At end of mediation session clients are asked to complete evaluation of the process. Some centers also do 3-6 month follow up interview/surveys. DRC staff address any problems that arise.

  18. DRC Client Satisfaction • 2002 Client exit surveys: • 90% of parties completing surveys graded the Mediation process excellent or good. • 90% of parties completing surveys indicated they would refer others to the mediation process or use it again themselves. • Clear majority of cases that come to a DRC are resolved successfully with some centers reporting settlement rates as high as 93%. (Center rates vary depending mainly on what percent of cases are mandated referrals such as small claims court.)

  19. Quotes from mediating parties • “I was thrilled that my teen was comfortable, because there was a teen mediator there. I’ve always felt like I have to drag my teen to programs, and she doesn’t want to go back. She felt much better having another teen there, and wanted to go back. It really worked.” • “I wish we had known about this service before. We could have saved a lot of pain and suffering.” • “I never would have believed that we could come to an agreement.” • “Thank you both for your help in finding a solution to our problem. It turned out better than I ever thought possible.”

  20. Comments Continued • “The DRC is an extremely valuable tool for communities to have. Thank you so much.” • “The mediators really helped us learn how to open up to communicate with each other again. I believe our son will benefit with less friction.” • “This has been a wonderful process.” • “Mediation relieved me of the burdens and gave me a chance to give my apology to the other person.” • “It is my hope that I can carry through with the spirit of cooperation and civility the mediators got me to see as essential.”

  21. Resolution Washington • The Association of Washington State Dispute Resolution Centers recently changed its name to Resolution Washington. • Marketing grant from National Association for Community Mediation. Marketing Training, new outreach materials. • Hope to market mediation services for statewide availability. • “Resolution Washington promotes community-based mediation throughout the state as well as the mutual support of its member centers in order to assure the health and vitality of community mediation in Washington State.”

  22. Potential Growth areas • Resolution Washington expands awareness of services so higher number of referrals for existing services. • Encouragement/Coercion to use mediation by courts (e.g. enforce Parenting Plan dispute resolution provisions: refusing party pays court and attorney costs.) • DRCs & Courts work on non-DV anti-harassment cases. • Public Disputes/land use. • Explore ways to increase impact on Municipal Courts. • Explore funding options for Superior Court impact work. • Enhance referral relationships with city/county services to reduce impact of conflicts on those services.

  23. Thank you • Thank you for permitting Resolution Washington to provide information about our services. • Resolution Washington c/o DRC of Snohomish & Island Counties PO Box 839 Everett, WA 98206-0839 1 (800) 280-4770 www.resolutionwa.org Return to Home Page

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