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Neb. Rev. Stat. §43-247.03 provides that in any juvenile case, the court may provide the parties with the opportunity to address issues involving the child’s care and placement, services to the family, and other concerns through restorative justice practices, including conferencing, mediation, and facilitation. Pre-Hearing Conferences are one tool available to judges, held prior to the First Appearance to gather information for the court and parties and to increase understanding by the parents about the court process. The Office of Dispute Resolution (ODR), in collaboration with the Nebraska Court Improvement Project (CIP), surveyed judges earlier this year to identify conference use across the state and understand barriers.
Learning objectives:
- Participants will understand the purpose and benefit of pre-hearing conferences in child welfare cases.
- Participants will have increased awareness of the protocol used and flexibility available by Mediation Center facilitators.
- Participants will learn about challenges, barriers and successes of utilizing PHC.
- Participants will learn about the array of child welfare conference options in Nebraska.
- Participants will be able to implement prehearing conferences into their dockets.
Presenters
Hon. Elise White, Judge of the Separate Juvenile Court, Lancaster County, was appointed in 2020. Prior to her appointment, she was in private practice from 2006-2020. She graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 2006 and received her Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors and Distinction from University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2003.
Judge White is co-chair of the Supreme Court Probation Services Committee, a member of the Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee, the Case Progression Subcommittee and a member of the Bar Foundation Bench Media Committee Media Education Working Group. She also is the lead judge for the Safe and Healthy Families Domestic Violence problem solving court.
Kelly Riley, MPA, is the director of the Administrative Office of the Courts and Probation’s Office of Dispute Resolution (ODR). Before ODR, she was an active mediator, executive director of an ODR-approved mediation center, managed Nebraska’s mediator association, and a trainer for Basic and Family mediation. Kelly has served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Community Mediation and the Association for Conflict Resolution, including as Board Chair and President, respectively.
Deb VanDyke-Ries, MSW, has been the Nebraska Court Improvement Project (CIP) director since 2016. Prior to her tenure at CIP she was the Director and Volunteer Coordinator at CASA for Lancaster County as well as Interim Director for the Nebraska CASA Association. Deb has been an adjunct professor of social work at Nebraska Wesleyan University, and supervised numerous social work students. Deb is a member of the Nebraska Children’s Commission and co-chair of the Juvenile Services Committee, appointed to the Governor’s Commission for the Protection of Children, and provides staff support to the Supreme Court Commission on Children in the Courts.