• COURTHOUSE FAMILY LAW CLINIC/SELF-HELP ASSISTANCE
• CO-PARENTING SEMINARS
• CUSTODY EVALUATIONS
• ATTORNEYS FOR MINOR CHILDREN
• PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN
• FAMILY COUNSELING
• MEDIATION SERVICES
• SUPERVISED VISITATION
• SUBSTANCE ABUSE EVALUATIONS
• ANGER MANAGEMENT / DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CLASSES

CO-PARENTING SEMINARS
Fiscal year 2001 was the first year that the Circuit Court for Washington County ordered divorcing and separating parents to attend the Children of Separation and Divorce parenting seminars.  The purpose of these seminars is to give parents skills to mitigate the effects of the family dissolution on their children. 

Topics include: Understanding the grief process, Explaining divorce, Changes in the parent-child relationship, Childhood development and the impact of divorce, Assessing your child's needs, Putting children's needs first, The parent to parent relationship and developing a constructive co-parenting relationship.

This program is available through private providers who have been certified to teach the course.  Parties contact the provider directly to register for the next available course.  The cost of the seminar is $100 per person. The cost may be provided through the Family Law Fund for income eligible parties.  Seminars are usually held on the 2nd and 3rd Monday evenings of the month, from 6p.m. to 9p.m.  You may contact Patricia Witmer at (240) 313-2580 for more information.

CUSTODY EVALUATIONS
Often in contested custody cases an investigation involving the competing homes, the parents and the minor(s) is valuable to a Judge when determining the best interest of the child or children.  The Circuit Court for Washington County has seen an increase in the need for this service and anticipates further increase in the future.

A private contractor, who is a retired social worker from the Department of Social Services, conducts home studies.  Once an evaluation is ordered, the private contractor contacts the parties and schedules appointments to meet with them individually.  All parties are observed at least once interacting with the child or children involved.  Extensive history data is collected on each party and background searches are conducted on all persons within each household.  Each home study is usually completed within 60 days, however, in emergency circumstances a home study could be completed in 30 days.  The cost of an investigation is $275 per party.  The cost is often paid for through the Family Law Fund subject to reimbursement by the parties.

ATTORNEYS FOR MINOR CHILDREN
In contested custody cases the Court sua sponte or by way of a motion filed by one of the parties, may order an attorney to represent a child's best interest.  The parties are ultimately responsible for payment of the attorney for the minor child or children: however, payment is often made through the Family Law Fund. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN
When any family destructs the children are affected the most.  In order to help these children now, in hopes that this dissolution will not affect them later, psychological services are conducted. 

One way psychological services are provided is through investigations to determine the psychological affect the family dissolution is having on the child or children.  These investigations are conducted by a licensed clinical social worker.  The social worker meets with each parent and child or children individually.  Once she has met with each person individually she will meet with all parties together in some format.  She usually meets all of the parties together more than once.  If she feels that a psychological evaluation would be appropriate she automatically has a psychologist complete an evaluation.  Investigations can be completed in 30 days; however, it is preferred to allow 90 days because parties seem to be themselves more after a longer period of time.  The cost of this investigation is $125 per hour.  An investigation can take anywhere from five hours to twenty-five hours to complete.  The cost is often paid for through the Family Law Fund subject to reimbursement by the parties.

FAMILY COUNSELING
Frequently in family law matters the entire family could benefit from counseling.  Many times counsel will advise their clients to participate in family counseling.  Other times the Court will order the family to participate in family counseling.  If a family is ordered to counseling and their insurance does not cover this service or they do not have insurance, the Circuit Court Family Law Fund will provide payment.

MEDIATION SERVICES
When appropriate, the Circuit Court for Washington County will be encouraging parties in child access cases to resolve their disputes through mediation.  "Mediation" as defined in the Maryland Rules 17-102(d) means a process in which the parties appear before an impartial mediator, who through the application of standard mediation techniques generally accepted within the professional mediation community and without providing legal advice, assists the parties in reaching their own voluntary agreement for the resolution of all or part of their dispute. 

Washington County currently has seven approved mediators to conduct mediation involving child access disputes.  Mediators will conduct two 2-hour Court ordered sessions.  Parties may agree to further mediation sessions.  The cost of each session will be $200, which is to be split among the parties.  The cost may be provided through the Family Law Fund for income eligible parties.

SUPERVISED VISITATION
Washington County has one program for supervised visitation.  The provider is through state-funded agencies and is limited in the number of persons who will be able to utilize the service.

The Parent-Child Center, Inc. will provide supervised visitation that is Court ordered.  Once a party has an order for supervised visitation it is their responsibility to contact the Parent-Child Center to establish a schedule for and location of the visitations.  The cost of the supervised visitation is $25 per hour.  Parties will be encouraged to pay the cost, however the cost may be provided through the Family Law Fund for income eligible parties.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE EVALUATIONS
The Circuit Court for Washington County has a list of five state-approved providers that conduct drug and/or alcohol evaluations and offer treatment for the same.  In child access cases, the Court may order persons to receive an evaluation and treatment.  Also, local counsel may request a copy of the list in order to advise their clients to start a program on their own initiative. 

ANGER MANAGEMENT / DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CLASSES
Washington County has two providers who conduct 30-week courses on recognition and control of anger.  The goal of these courses is to give participants skills to recognize anger and control issues and to deal with those issues more responsibly.  The Circuit Court may order appropriate litigants to complete one of these courses.