Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 1, 1990 TAG: 9006010773
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The center, to be known as the Conflict Resolution Center Inc., will offer a mediation program to help divorcing couples resolve child custody and visitation disputes in a collaborative rather than an adversarial manner.
The center - which has a board of directors that includes lawyers, psychologists, counselors, social workers and ministers - will also provide mediation services for other types of disputes.
Dorothy McCorkle, president of the board, said she thinks the center's programs will meet the objectives of Councilman David Bowers' proposal that the city look into the possibility of providing mediation services or a visitation school for divorcing or divorced couples to help resolve disputes over their children.
Bowers said earlier he thought such services are needed because custody and visitation disputes occur frequently and can cause emotional and psychological problems for children.
City Manager Robert Herbert will recommend Monday that council cooperate with the Conflict Resolution Center in its attempt to establish child custody and visitation mediation and related educational programs.
He said the center will provide mediation and arbitration services for people seeking expeditious and less costly non-judicial resolutions of conflicts.
Herbert said a study committee, which was established late last year to study the issue, has found a need for such mediation services for divorcing couples as Bowers proposed.
Professional counselors indicate that conflicts over child custody and visitation rights are common and may continue for years without being resolved, he said.
The city manager said the Social Services Department in the city and Roanoke County provide some counseling and mediation services for divorcing couples, but the services are not available to people who are not clients of the departments.
Family Services of the Roanoke Valley provides counseling services for divorcing or divorced spouses on a fee basis, Herbert said, but the agency does not provide mediation or conflict resolution services.
Herbert will recommend that the city work with the Conflict Resolution Center for one year and then determine whether its mediation services are adequate or whether the city's Social Services Department needs to set up a mediation program.
No city funds will be required for the city to cooperate with the Conflict Resolution Center, Herbert said.
by CNB