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      • OUR IMPACT
    • PARENT RESOURCES
    • Education & Opportunities
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • OUR IMPACT
  • PARENT RESOURCES
  • Education & Opportunities

EDUCATION & OPPORTUNITIES

AFADCM-25

AFADCM For Your Team

AFADCM-25

Designed and offered to spread the word and the secrets of our success for individual mediators.  Based on 1,000 Mediation Lessons Learned.  Approved by the Judicial Counsel of California (specific content not necessarily endorsed).   

Space is limited.


A mix of:

i. Live Zoom Classes,

ii. Live Zoom Dependency Court Mediation Simulation,

iii. On-Demand (pre-recorded) Classes, 

Request to Join

AFADCM-40

AFADCM For Your Team

AFADCM-25

Our flagship education program, since 2016.  Offered to new SCFM mediators and by invitation only.  Based on 1,000 Mediation Lessons Learned.  Approved by the Judicial Counsel of California (specific content not necessarily endorsed).  


A mix of:

i. Live Zoom Classes,

ii. Live Zoom Dependency Court Mediation Simulation,

iii. On-Demand (pre-recorded) Classes, 

iv. 7:45AM (actual) pre-mediation team preparation for that day’s mediations,

v. Real world dependency co-mediation observations, and

vi. Co-mediations.

AFADCM For Your Team

AFADCM For Your Team

AFADCM For Your Team

Customized length, time, and potentially location, designed to best meet your team’s unique needs, interests, and expectations.  Based on 1,000 Mediation Lessons Learned.


Let’s discuss it.

info@dependencymediation.org


Email Inquiry

Join Us

AFADCM-40

Most mediators spend their careers resolving disputes over money, employment, or property.  At Southern California Family Mediation, volunteer co-mediators do something harder and more important - we help parents who may never agree on anything, agree on what matters most: a safe, stable life for their children. One day here will give you more life & mediation experience than most mediators accumulate in a career.


We have the highest family success rates.  That's not a coincidence - it's what happens when the right mediators show up the right way for the right reasons.


If you've been waiting for the work your passion and training have been pointing you toward - this is it.

SCFM AFADCM-40 CLASS OF 2026

We're looking for volunteer mediators ready to commit - up to weekly the first year, with flexibility in year two. 


We will invest in you. We ask that you invest in the families we serve, not just while it's convenient, but for the long haul.


 The next SCFM Class of 2026 begins this Spring.  Live sessions are required - four Wednesday evenings (6:30-8:00pm PST) and two Saturday morning Mock Mediations (9:00am-1:00pm PST). These are when the cohort comes together and does the work that can't happen on pre-recorded video, like Q&A and positioning. You may miss one. The rest are non-negotiable. That means on time, present, and staying through to the end. 


The children and parents who sit across from you will remember you. Make sure it's for the right reasons.

Email Us Your Resume

SCFM Roles

SCFM Volunteer Dependency Court Mediator

Our exceptional team of volunteer co-mediators appreciate the importance of showing up consistently for families when they need us most.  SCFM Volunteer Mediators have a combination of education and experience that often includes six years of college and/or extensive family mediation-related experience.  They complete our California Judicial Counsel-approved AFADCM-40 (Advanced Family And Dependency Court Mediation-40) before and during their first year of observations and co-mediations.

SCFM Volunteer Paraprofessional Dependency Court Mediator

Our exceptional team of volunteer co-mediators appreciate the importance of showing up consistently for families when they need us most.  SCFM Volunteer Paraprofessional Mediators have less combined education and experience when they first join the SCFM team.  They complete our California Judicial Counsel-approved AFADCM-40 (Advanced Family And Dependency Court Mediation-40) before and during their first year of observations and co-mediations.

Leadership Tiger Team Volunteer Professionals & Intern/Externships

Our volunteer Leadership Tiger Team Professionals are second to none, keeping everything working behind the scenes, helping families, parents, and co-mediation teams make the magic happen.

Supervising Mediator (internal)

A few of our best and most experienced co-mediators are promoted to the pinnacle of court-connected mediation exceptionalism, SCFM Dependency Court Supervising Mediator.  Supervising Mediators are available to answer mediators' questions before and during mediations and to help review Mediated Agreements with the co-mediation teams.

USC Student Mediators (internal)

Since 2016, SCFM has had a partnership with the USC School of Law, Family Mediation Clinic.  Students take a class at USC and as part of that class, they get the opportunity to co-mediate with our team.

Opportunities like this are rare.

How it works

  • As a team, we serve co-parenting families at all LACSC (Los Angeles County Superior Court), dependency courts - one of the most challenging and rewarding environments, where families and kids need us most.  
  •  No legal background is required. 
  • We work in teams using the co-mediation model with a Supervising Mediator to help navigate the uniqueness of each case. 
  • We are agreement-writing mediators. 
  • We are a transformation-based program that employs facilitative and evaluative styles when needed to best serve the families & children when they need us most.   
  • The goal is to help young families negotiate their own written, custom-detailed Parenting Plan or Visitation Plan - Mediated Agreement - to help them navigate challenges like their Visitation and Holiday schedules, Exchange Plans, Communication Plans, and issues important to them.
  • Individual volunteer mediator's schedules may be weekly, E/O week, or periodic (Standby Availability), and may vary based on the number of co-mediation requests submitted to us by the courts/attorneys any particular month. 

Where

  • Most of us co-mediate from home office, online.
  • We also offer in-person co-mediation opportunities at the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Courthouse in Monterey Park and the Alfred J. McCourtney Juvenile Justice Center in the Antelope Valley.

How

  • Thanks to our 11-year relationship with the Court, parents are ordered to mediation (but they can't be ordered to agree).
  • There are four attorneys on each case, and case files provide guidance and the orders of the Court. 

WHAT IT TAKES TO JOIN THIS EXCEPTIONAL PANEL OF MEDIATORS

Two-Year Commitment (but we hope you'll always want to stay)

Up to one day per week the first year; and flexibility the second year.

For example, every Tuesday.

Skills

  • Consistent reliability 
  • Growth mindset
  • Great mediators are negotiators of acumen.  
  • Belief (tenacity), patience, curiosity and listening skills are musts for great mediators.
  • You do not need a legal background.
  • 40-Hour basic mediation certificate preferred.

Security Clearance

 An LAC Superior Court Security Clearance is required for all volunteers who will be in contact with families or confidential file information.  There are no substitutes for this clearance requirement. 

Let the Journey Begin

Email us your resume

Contact us for Zelle® information, available (with no fees subtracted).


Please, mail your Peace-Investment Donation check to:

"SoCal Family Mediation"

PO Box 7576 Burbank, CA 91510


GoFundMe:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/break-the-cycle-reuniting-families-through-mediation


Southern California Family Mediation is a 501(c)3


Administrative Support

Tiger Team Supervisor, Nellie "Naomi" Tillman  

818-575-6900 (no text)   |   Nelliet@DependencyMediation.org


Education & Join-us

Info@DependencyMediation.org


Program Questions & Mediation Support

Mediator L Randy Drew

818-257-0007   |   Drew@DependencyMediation.org

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