2022
Our Spring 2022 Fundraiser was our most successful to date.
1. Technical aspects worked (Whew!)
2. Well-attended
3. Several great sponsors
4. We raised more then $20,000 to serve more families & kids in 2023.
New online, on-demand Mediation and Conflict Communication education system is rolling out.
2021
Phase III
With more than 600 families served , our Lessons Learned are extensive. Our distance remote, online) mediation process is showing signs of maturity. Unlike in the courthouses when one person could administer the mediations, we now need a team of volunteers. Thank you Naomi Tillman and Shirley Huang!!
2020
When they needed us most, SCFM was the first court-connected mediation program up and running, providing distance (remote, online) mediation services for families. In 2020, we served more than 300 co-parenting families. When faced with adversity, we were there when families needed us most.
2019
First-Ever: "L.A. County Children's Courts All Hands Mediation Training"
January 11, Our team, accompanied by Ken Cloke, address the 450 dependency attorneys and judicial officers. Notably, Ken remarked, “This is one of the premier mediation programs in the world. And nothing less than the lives of children are at stake.” Thanks Ken!
First-Ever: L.A. County Children's Court 'Settlement Day'
The Edelman Children's Courthouse devoted this day in 2019 to settling all disputes with the assistance of mediators. For us, this was an all-hands, exciting and challenging event.
USC Students Return
January - April, our partnership with USC Law School, educating the next generation of great peacemakers continued.
Agreement with the Court
Our new agreement with the Court formalizes our relationship, and offers additional support and guidance.
2018
- In 2018 our team has grown to 30 Volunteer Mediators.
- January - April USC students returned.
- Mediators from our inaugural class were promoted to Supervising Mediators.
- We expanded to serve all 25 Los Angeles County Dependency courtrooms, at both the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Courthouse in Monterey Park, and adding the Alfred J. McCourtney Juvenile Justice Center in the Antelope Valley.
- Our federal nonprofit application was filed.
2017
- In 2017, our team of seven mediators served 684 co-parents & guardians, and helped 652 of them create agreements (95.3%).
- This was our second year partnering with USC, where students co-mediate with volunteer mediators.
- We began mediating open cases for when co-parents need help creating a temporary Parenting Plan, but are not yet exiting the dependency system.
- We added contested adoptions to our service offerings. Contested adoption mediations are both technically and emotionally challenging, sometimes taking multiple days to reach an agreement. We mediated 12 contested adoptions, and achieved 12 agreements, 100%.
- October - December - 11 new volunteer mediators completed the 2nd annual Advanced Family and Dependency Mediation Training, 72 hours. Congratulations and welcome!
- November - We mediated a few settlement conference cases. These are mediations, involving parents, attorneys, and the department (DCFS), as families enter the juvenile justice system. With further development, a family's journey through the system could be eased and expedited from beginning to end.
2016
- In 2016, we mediated for 476 co-parents & guardians, and helped 456 of them create agreements (95.8%).
- January - We established a partnership with USC. In the Spring, 2nd and 3rd year law school students get the opportunity to co-mediate with our volunteer professionals.
- March - We became ‘Southern California Family Mediation’, a California corporation.
- Midyear - We established SCFM’s online presence. Courts and attorneys celebrated the launch of our self-service, online appointment-booking system, which makes it convenient to select a mediation date, on or of the record.
- October - We opened up the program to additional volunteer mediators. Our inaugural class of Mediators, Marvin Whistler, Victoria Gray, Maria Brinson-Sampson, Alik Segal, and Leyla Balakhane, completed 55 hours of combined classroom and practical training.
- November - Pritzker, Foster Care Initiative became our fiscal receiver.
2015
Each mediation serves two distinct but overlapping families. The three of us served about 200 families.
As the first transformation-based, court-connected mediation program created by mediators, every system was innovated to maximize benefits and results for families. Every child and co-parent benefits from the creation of their own detailed, self-designed Parenting Plan.
One early innovation was the stipulated co-parenting plan model, which avoided the need for parents to miss additional days of work, and the kids additional school days in order to properly close their cases. A Supervising Attorney for the Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers remarked, “In all my years as a dependency lawyer, I have never seen that before."
2014
August - Devastating budget cuts result in the closure of 48 courts and elimination of the Children's (dependency) Court’s Mediation program. Faced with overwhelming recidivism, Commissioner (then, Referee) Mordetzky recruited Mediators Randy Drew and Stacey Lisk to establish a new, volunteer-based dependency mediation program.
Custom, detailed, and durable Exit Orders are important, because they help reduce confusion, frustration, and conflict between co-parents. Better agreements keep parents & children from returning to the court system.