PROBATE
AND FAMILY COURT ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF THE MANDATORY
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TRAININGS FOR ALL GUARDIANS AD
LITEM IN CHILD WELFARE CASES
The
Probate and Family Court Administrative Office in conjunction
with the Administrative Office of the Trial Court and
Boston Medical Center recently completed the fourth
in a series of mandatory six (6) hour domestic violence
training program for guardians ad litem. In total,
over four hundred (400) guardians ad litem were trained.
The
first training was held in Boston in April at the Massachusetts
Continuing Legal Education training facility. The subsequent
trainings were held at the University of Massachusetts
Medical School, Western New England College and Stonehill
College. These trainings were held free of charge. Chief
Justice Dunphy said, “We are grateful to the panelists
who devoted their time and energy to the trainings as
well as the facilities who donated the use of their space.”
All
guardians ad litem certified in either Category E, guardians
ad litem/evaluators or under Category F, guardians ad
litem/investigators, guardians ad litem/next friend,
pursuant to Supreme Judicial Court Rule 1:07, were required
to attend one of the training sessions in order to receive
further appointments under Categories E and F.
Some
of the topics that were covered included the impact of
domestic violence on children, the role of the guardian
ad litem in cases involving allegations of domestic violence,
the impact of domestic violence on parenting, the custodial
presumption statute, report writing and parental alienation.
Chief Justice Dunphy said “We believe a uniform
training concerning domestic violence for guardians ad
litem involved in child welfare cases will be beneficial
to all guardians ad litem and better enable them to assist
the judges in making decisions in the best interests
of the children affected by litigation in the Probate
and Family Court.”
For
persons who were on the Category E or F lists prior to
January 1, 2003, this training will satisfy the six-hour
continuing professional education requirement for 2003.
Any person who has applied and been accepted to either
the Category E or F lists after January 1, 2003, must
also take another six-hour professional education course
during 2003 in either the child custody/visitation field
for Category E or the domestic relations/custody, adoption
fields for Category F.
