Updated 2/19/08

Consultation

The Executive Director and board members of OFI are often asked to attend meetings, or to work directly with a jurisdiction's local family law advisory committee (LFLAC), to discuss the specific needs of that jurisdiction or how new programs could be integrated to better serve families. These consultations are usually done without cost as part of the networking and development of services and distribution of information. In times of severe cutbacks to jurisdictions and services, OFI may be able to help research and promote new programs and processes that might not be able to be done without outside help.


CURRENT CONSULTATION PROJECTS:

• EAST GRESHAM MEDIATION - TRAINING ON FAMILY DYNAMICS IN ELDER MEDIATION.  APRIL 12, 9 AM TO 1 PM. 
  Executive Director Alison Taylor will consult with and provide part of the programming for this training opportunity. 
  

• CONTACTING JUDGES ACROSS THE STATE:  OFI is trying to understand the needs of the various jurisdictions, and has been contacting judges to understand their perspectives. 
  

PAST CONSULTATION PROJECTS:

• REVISION OF THE OJD BASIC PARENTING PLAN FORMAT:  2007.  Alison Taylor sat on the committee to help revise these forms and make them more available by putting them on a web-based system.
  

• STATE MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEDIATORS:  2005. Executive Director Alison Taylor and Hugh McIsaac participated  in the series of meetings to determine revision of the UTCR Chapter 12 Minimum Qualifications of Domestic Relations mediators, which have now become a Chief Justice Order and OJD Guidelines for Training.
  

        Chief Justice Carson adopted the Court-Connected Mediator Qualifications Rules on July 28 and            made them effective August 1, 2005. 

        The accompanying State Court Administrator Guidelines relating  to Basic and Domestic Relations  Custody and Parenting Mediation Training have also been adopted.  Both are now available online. 

        To access them, go to www.ojd.state.or.us, click on the "Rules" tab and then choose
        "Court Connected Mediator Qualifications Rules" from the drop down menu.

• STATE FAMILY LAW ADVISORY COMMITTEE (SFLAC):  Bill Howe, former OFI President, is part of the SFLAC, and Alison Taylor continues to attend ex officio and participate in the subcommittee working on Parenting Plans. 
  

Consultation in the Portland Area, North Coast, and Valley Jurisdictions

Former Executive Director Hugh McIsaac worked with the Clatsop County LFLAC to help develop a wonderful, well-attended conference on Family Law on  September 19, 2003, in Astoria.  This may become a model for smaller conferences across the state.  OFI will continue to support bringing cutting-edge information to areas across the state, especially as the lowered state and local funding reduces opportunities to meet and learn.

Eastern Jurisdictions

One of our newer Board Members, Hon. Eric Valentine (ret.), invited OFI's new Executive Director, Alison Taylor, to meet with the LFLAC in LaGrande. On May 12, Alison met with administrators and service providers from several of the Eastern counties, including Umatilla, Union/Wallowa, and Baker counties. They expressed enthusiasm about OFI's new project of reviewing the current mandatory parent education models and materials, and showed interest in being considered to be one of several sites around the state that may be used to research and pilot a new "best practices" parent education model, should grant funding allow. See our NEW PROJECTS for more information .

Southern Jurisdictions

Hugh McIsaac has been consulting with the Klamath County judges to help train and set up the Klamath County panel of collaborative evaluators trained in the OFI-sponsored model. Klamath has recently produced a protocol that includes many aspects of implementing this, including a scaled fee structure that separates costs of the evaluation, the mediation session, and any times testifying to the report in court. For a copy of this protocol, contact the OFI office, or CLICK HERE.

OFI Grant for Hispanic Caregiver Materials

In January 2003, OFI donated $4,000 to Legacy Caregivers Services so that they could create a Spanish translation of their new manual for those providing care to elderly and disabled family members at home. The manual contains sections devoted to resolving conflicts that often arise in a caregiving situation. Both English and Spanish manuals are now being distributed through that system.

This grant was crucial in providing access to this information to families across Oregon, and was consistent with our mission to provide support to families in transition, and OFI's interest in supporting cultural diversity and equality of services for all families in Oregon.

For more information about the caregivers manual or Spanish translation, contact Loretta Russell, LCSW, 503-413-8087, or email her at : lrussel@lhs.org