Restraining Order Conditions Shuttle Conference (Jefferson County, Colorado)

Since 1999, Jefferson County County Courts have been using the Jefferson County Mediation Services to facilitate the negotiation of conditions involved in permanent protection orders.  The conditions that often need to be determined include:

• Parenting time provisions for the 120 days of care and control often awarded in permanent protection orders
• Exchange of children provisions
• Retrieval of personal property from the family home by one of the parties.

In domestic abuse cases the program is designed to request the services of victim advocates from Women in Crisis for the plaintiff, and a support person for the restrained party.  In addition facilitators have information available to provide to the parties about community resources. 

The facilitators are trained on the dynamics of domestic violence.  The facilitation is “shuttle” conferencing, whereby the parties are not in the same conference room together.  The result is that both parties can think about how best to proceed, without having to make critical, even though temporary, decisions, in open court or in the presence of the abuser.  This is crucial in cases involving children; which are the majority of the cases referred by the court to ROCSC.

For more information about the program, contact Mark Loye, Director of Jefferson County Mediation Services, 303.271.5062.