Hiring and Training

Every time we hire a new employee, I learn something new.  Every time I train someone new, I become a little bit better.  And now that I have trained a number of employees, I realize that it is not necessarily my failings that cause a new employee to not thrive.  The necessary skills need to be in place first.  The enthusiasm needs to be there for success.  I repeat, I will not blame myself for the faults of others.  I will recognize my role and move on.

We welcome a new employee on Monday.  I look forward to working with her. I am optimistic that she will become a part of a team that will do great things.

TaxCalc14 Seminar

With so many seminars, you learn some great stuff but then when you get back to the office you aren't able to immediately apply that information and so you forget what you learned.

This was not the case with the TaxCalc14 Seminar I attended this week, which was hosted by the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin and presented by Grant Zielinski of Divorce Financial Solutions and Attorney Dan Cross of Perterson, Berk & Cross, S.C.  In the just the first two days back in the office, I spent hours using the tools provided and demonstrated at this seminar.  It was by far the best training I have ever attended.

Before attending this seminar the extent of my experience with Divorce Financial Solutions TaxCalc14 spreadsheets was only with child support and maintenance calculations.  This week I made good use of their QDRO Estimate tool (to figure out tax consequences of distributions from a retirement account received through a QDRO), property division worksheet, and Wage Stub Calculator in addition to figuring maintenance and child support.

For any attorney (or support staff) not already using these tools, I encourage you to check them out and the best part is that they can be downloaded for free from Divorce Financial Solutions's website.

If I were you, ....

I recently listened to a webinar recorded in July 2013 titled "People Management 101:  Providing Direction & Support" presented by Ann Phillips, Senior Consulting Partner at The Ken Blanchard Companies

One, of many things, I took from the presentation was the use, or preferably non-use, of the phrase, "if I were you, I would..."  This phrases loses sight of the very important fact that I'm NOT you.  We are all different and would respond differently to any situation.  

Mandated Reporters

There needs to be more training for mandated reporters.  It seems a far too frequent occurrence to hear a client say their child disclosed abuse to so and so and no report is every made.  If a doctor, nurse, school professional, therapist, etc. hears a disclosure of child abuse, witnesses child abuse, or witnesses signs of abuse (such as bruises in places kids don't normally get bruises), he or she is required by law to make a report to social services.

When I was a teacher, there was very limited training regarding this.  It was very briefly mentioned in one of my classes in college.  And I think it wasn't until half way through my second year of teaching that the school district mentioned it during an in service day.  Why aren't these individuals getting the training and support so that child abuse can be responded to as early as possible?

Restraining orders/orders of protection

I have been going through the Intimate Partner Sexual Abuse Course as I posted about a few days ago.  Module XIII talks a lot about crafting orders of protection that address anything that might pull the parties back together such as the victim needing child support to care for the children, or the defendant/respondent wanting to see the children.  WI's restraining order laws prohibit including any orders besides orders prohibiting contact or further acts of domestic violence which is contrary to Illinois which includes placement and other family law orders in their restraining orders.

Before reading this module I was adamantly against restraining orders that included family law orders.  I worked with a woman once who was trying to get a restraining order here in WI after she had fled from IL and in the meantime, the father of her child filed for and obtained a temporary restraining order in IL gaining temporary placement of their child.  At the time I was frustrated with a system that would grant placement (even on a temporary basis) to a parent without even a hearing where both parents could provide evidence.

I also have lost much confidence in our court system when judges and commissioners make placement orders which give an abusive parent significant time and often make a schedule that maximizes the number of exchanges and thus the number of opportunities for the abusive parent to continue the abuse.  So I fear that in the context of a half hour restraining order hearing, a commissioner would not be able to gather enough evidence (especially when one or both parties are pro se) to make a good order about placement.

All that said, this Module makes some very good points about addressing all the things that pull parties back together.  With clear orders about how to exchange property, child support, and placement, the court is taking away respondents' excuses for initiating contact and can more easily hold the respondent accountable for violations.  So I don't know what to think.

Wisconsin Serving Victims of Crime Conference

I recently attended the Wisconsin Serving Victims of Crime Conference and have been meaning to blog about it. It was a three day conference held in Appleton, WI that attracted a wide variety of professionals (prosecutors, police officers, victim advocates, shelter workers, victim crisis responders, social workers, parole agents, etc.) and it sounds like it was the first of what will be an annual conference so for those of you who didn't attend this one, you will have a chance next year.

One session that I found especially helpful was a session on working with people who have cognitive disabilities presented by Mark Sweet, PhD, a Trainer & Consultant for Disability Rights Wisconsin (who also is a former teacher). Some points he made were that this is a group of people that have the most supervision yet are more likely to become victims of violence. The reason for this is that it is often those caring for them that are abusing them. So especially in cases where the victim is not able to communicate his/herself and we are speaking to someone else, we need to make sure we try and get at the perspective of the victim which is often very different than those around the victim. A victims actions may really be reactions to something that others don't realize they are doing. As I sat through this session I really wished that I had attended a presentation like this while I was still teaching because it likely would have affected the way I worked with students with disabilities.

Some other practical tips, I gained from this session that really apply to anyone you are talking to include giving time for the victim to process your questions and their answers. The presenter stressed that you are not helping someone if you jump in with more specific questions. The victim needs time to process especially someone with a disability and waiting patiently is something that is difficult for many of us. Also, direct eye contact can be intimidating (something I've noticed in working with certain clients). Dr. Sweet suggested having a different focus point like a drawing the victim drew right before speaking with you or court documents, anything that would help in not forcing the victim to make direct eye contact if she/he isn't comfortable with it. Additionally, if a victim is not comfortable looking at you while they talk, they likely aren't comfortable with you starting at them while you listen.