Report 2009-109 Recommendation 5 Responses

Report 2009-109: Sacramento and Marin Superior Courts: Both Courts Need to Ensure That Family Court Appointees Have Necessary Qualifications, Improve Administrative Policies and Procedures, and Comply With Laws and Rules (Release Date: January 2011)

Recommendation #5 To: Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento

To ensure that its FCS mediators are qualified, the Sacramento superior and family courts should take all reasonable steps to ensure that the FCS mediators meet all of the minimum qualifications and training requirements before assigning them to future mediations. If necessary, and as soon as reasonably possible, the court should require the FCS mediators to take additional education or training courses to compensate for the minimum qualifications and training requirements that were not met.

1-Year Agency Response

The Sacramento superior and family courts reported that they have documentation to demonstrate that the FCS mediators have completed additional training education or training courses to compensate for the minimum requirements for which there was no documentation. The courts also stated that the documents will be placed in the FCS mediators’ personnel files. We reviewed the documents the court provided and as recommended, the court has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the FCS mediators meet all of the minimum qualifications and training requirements. (See 2013-406, p. 152)

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2009-109

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.