FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - When the Department of Human Services removes children from a home because of suspected abuse or neglect, conflict between parents and the state seems inevitable. But a University of Arkansas School of Law project aims to defuse that conflict and help both the state and the family to resolve their problems - to the benefit of the children.

The Northwest Arkansas Dependency-Neglect/FINS Mediation Project offers free mediation services for cases referred to it by the Juvenile courts of Washington and Benton Counties. Judith Kilpatrick, associate professor of law, began the project two years ago as a way to serve the community and to train law students in mediation skills.

Mediators help people on both sides of a conflict receive the assistance they need to work through a difficult situation.

"Studies have shown that when people are part of the process in coming to an agreement, they are more likely to comply with the terms of that agreement," Kilpatrick said. "Mediators help the parties create a realistic plan that has a chance to succeed."

Federal courts and government agencies now have mandates to include dispute resolution methods, including mediation, in their operations whenever possible. Currently, Arkansas’ state courts and agencies are only "encouraged" to use such processes.

Project mediators work with two different types of cases - dependency-neglect and families in need of services (FINS). FINS cases often involve truancy, acting out or pre-juvenile delinquent behavior on the part of a child. Schools report such behavior to the state, and parents may be taken to court to decide what needs to be done to change that behavior.

In dependency-neglect cases, the law requires that a decision be made about the placement of children within a year of the date the case is opened.

In both FINS and dependency-neglect cases, the parties may decide to enter mediation voluntarily, or the court may require them to attend mediation.

Two volunteer mediators meet with the parties - the parents, the parent’s lawyer, the children’s attorney, the DHS case worker, a DHS attorney, sometimes a DHS supervisor or a prosecuting attorney, CASA volunteers (Court Appointed Special Advocates for the children), extended family members and possibly the children, depending upon their age. They meet at a neutral location - the First Baptist Church of Bentonville for Benton County and the First Baptist Church of Fayetteville for Washington County. The room may hold anywhere from four to 12 people, depending upon the case.

In a dependency-neglect case, if probable cause is found, the court can order the parents to attend parenting classes, drug counseling or therapy before the children are returned to the home. Sometimes the parents face barriers to complying with those orders, like a lack of transportation and finances. Mediation helps uncover these barriers and create realistic solutions to the problems facing all parties.

"The state has this incredibly huge power, and it’s hard for the parents to argue their side," Kilpatrick said. "We try to provide a balance to the equation and help avoid failures."

The mediators are trained to ask questions and to listen carefully to different perspectives. Often the disputing parties learn a lot just by hearing what the other side has to say, because anger, grief or fear have kept them from successfully communicating earlier, Kilpatrick said. The mediation provides a forum for decision making and a model for resolving future disputes.

The mediation project has expanded beyond the court system. The Veteran’s Administration Hospital has consulted with the project’s mediators. And mediators have given training programs to community assistants who live in student apartment buildings on campus. Kilpatrick would like to see the mediation and training services used more widely on campus and in the community.

The project currently has 21 trained mediators who have taken at least one 40-hour course to develop their mediation skills. Some are lawyers seeking to improve their own skills; others are counselors, psychologists, or people with an interest in mediation. Law students also co-mediate cases under supervision, once they have absorbed basic mediation skills. The students will, once they graduate, carry these skills back to their communities and use them throughout their careers.

There will be a project information and training session from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, at Waterman Hall Courtroom, room 113, at the Robert A. Leflar Law Center. The program is open to anyone who is interested in mediation, but is particularly directed toward attorneys and others with an interest in becoming volunteer mediators and attorneys who may be referred to mediation.

Registration is $25 and includes coffee, snacks and a lunch. Registration must be received by Jan. 22 to receive a lunch. For information call Ian Gilbert, project coordinator, at (479) 575-7119.

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