A Judge’s Guide

MANAGING THE CHILD CUSTODY CASE
80 Id.
81 Id. at 20.
82 MICHIGAN PROBATE JUDGES ASSOCIATION, RESOLUTION 2: RESOLUTION OF
THE MICHIGAN PROBATE JUDGES ASSOCIATION REGARDING DELAYS IN
TERMINATION APPEALS FROM THE JUVENILE COURT (January 22,
1992)(unanimously adopted at the MPJA Winter Conference and citing report
findings of the Children’s Charter of the Courts of Michigan).
83 Id.
84 Id.
85 RESOURCE GUIDELINES, supra note 46, at 24.
86 Id.
87 Id.
88 JUDITH MORAN, CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY, FAMILY DIVISION/
DOMESTIC DOCKET. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FAMILY DIVISION 6-7
(JANUARY 1999).
89
Id. at 17. The program serves children from the ages of six through eleven, and
there are plans to expand the program to adolescents.
90
Id. at 11, 17.
91
For information on studies of family mediation, see Jessica Pearson, Family
Mediation, NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON COURT-CONNECTED DISPUTE
RESOLUTION RESEARCH: A REPORT ON CURRENT RESEARCH FINDINGS-
IMPLICATIONS FOR COURTS AND FUTURE RESEARCH NEEDS 51-89 (State
Justice Institute & National Center for State Courts 1994).
92
MIMI E. LYSTER, CHILD CUSTODY: BUILDING AGREEMENTS THAT WORK 1/2
(Nolo Press, Inc. 1995).
93
Anita Vestal, Mediation and Parental Alienation Syndrome: Considerations for an
Intervention Model, 37 FAM. & CONCILIATION COURTS REV. 487, 495
(1999)(citing C. Hysjulien, B. Wood, & G.A. Benjamin, Child Custody
Evaluations: A Review of Methods Used in Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution,
32 FAM.&CONCILIATION COURTS REV. 466-489 (1994)).
94
Vestal, supra note 93, at 496. Mediation has been utilized in dependency cases
involving child abuse and neglect to address the development of case and
permanency plans. Programs have been established in a number of states,
including Connecticut, Florida, California, Maryland, Oregon, and Colorado.
For further discussion of mediation, see
http://www.abanet.org/abanet/child/home.cfm (highlighting the court
improvement activities of participating states, including mediation).
95
LYSTER, supra note 92, at 1/2.
96 S. Margaret Lee, Ph.D., The Integration of Ethics and the Law in Clinical Practice:
Acting as a Special Master in High Conflict Post-Divorce Child Custody Cases: How to be
31