Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 8, 1993 TAG: 9307080196
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In the past, someone with at least four years of college and three years of law school usually was needed to lead couples through divorces. But under the new law that went into effect last week, that journey could be guided by someone with no degree and a little more than a week of training.
"I don't think it's sufficient," said Merri Hanson Eckles, co-founder of the Peninsula Mediation Center in Hampton. "Even if a person had other experience, mediation is so different."
Anyone who has worked on the handful of voluntary divorce mediations that took place before the new law went into effect can be grandfathered in without meeting the state's training requirements.
The law authorizes judges to order couples to see a mediator for at least one session to determine if they can work out their differences. Either side can stop the mediation after the first visit and return to court, but court officials hope many won't, which would help unclog court dockets.
Family law experts say the training required for "family mediators" isn't enough to qualify them to handle the issues of divorce.
"We worry that everyone will jump on the mediation bandwagon," said Deborah L. Samuelson, the other co-founder of the Peninsula Mediation Center. "They'll be selling used cars and doing a little mediation on the side."
Working with warring couples requires strong knowledge of family dynamics and other issues, the mediators said.
Barbara L. Hulburt, director of the state Supreme Court's Dispute Resolution Services, said Virginia's certification standards are "the minimum," but that a national trend is away from academic degrees and toward experience.
The standards for family mediators, set by the Judicial Council of Virginia, aren't intended to regulate mediation, but to provide people with enough background information to choose their own mediators, she said. Those certified go on a list of mediators that judges can show couples.
But some mediators said most people won't take the initiative or know enough to check a mediator's qualifications, and instead will merely accept the state's certification.
"Most people are not going to look beyond that, because that's a seal of approval for a lot of people," Samuelson said.
The new law requires:
A bachelor's degree or "relevant experience and qualifications sufficient to support certification."
Twenty hours of training in basic skills, four hours of training, study or experience with the state's judicial system and 20 hours of mediation training in family-related matters.
Supervised co-mediation of at least five domestic-relations cases.
Observations of at least two domestic-relations mediations conducted by certified mediators or added training with at least two role plays.
A bachelor's degree is required to be a member of the Academy of Family Mediators, a national professional organization. Also required are 60 hours of family mediation training, two hours of training in domestic violence issues, 100 hours of face-to-face family mediation experience in 10 different mediations and 20 hours of continuing education every two years.
by CNB