Family Law

First Teacher Zoom activity September 28 2020: Sibling rivalry

September 12, 2020

On Monday, September 28, 2020, at 10:00 a.m., Shanna Crutchfield will read stories with some very special guests and talk about sibling rivalry.

Please join and share your questions and experiences, and invite your children to ask questions and get involved). A Zoom link will be available at First Teacher’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/FirstTeacherPMF.

First Teacher Zoom activities are free to parents and children in Port Angeles, Sequim, Clallam Bay, Neah Bay, Forks, and anywhere in Clallam County. These activities will offered weekly during the coronavirus times. Check back for upcoming sessions. Contact First Teacher if you would like to host a Zoom activity.

First Teacher is a service of the nonprofit Parenting Matters Foundation.

Law is an important service to the health of our community. Parenting is even more important.

CLE: Guardianship of a Minor: The New Law Replacing Non-Parent Custody January 1, 2021

September 10, 2020

Celeste Miller and Kay King will host a 2-hour webinar on the new Uniform Guardianship Act, covering the portion of the act governing custodial guardianships of minor children. The new act makes significant changes to the current third party (nonparent) custody laws by eliminating RCW 26.10, by replacing it with article 2 of RCW 11.130. Third party custody will be referred to as guardianship of a minor.

Please note, the UGA is a large title covering a wide variety of legal issues. This CLE will only cover minor guardianship provisions, meaning child custody matters. It will not cover adult guardianships, or minor conservatorships which involve financial matters only. Nonparental visitation under RCW 26.11 will also not be covered.

Guardianship CLE details

The online training will be on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, from 1-3 p.m. PST. The WSBA Low Bono Section is hosting the event. It is $30 for non-section members, and free for section members.

Click here to Join Low Bono Section, then register

Click here to go directly to registration page

It costs $30 to join the Low Bono Section, which offers a listserv and a variety training and networking opportunities. WSBA lawyers can find out more about LBS and register for the Low Bono Section here, and then once you are registered, the WSBA CLE registration system will automatically recognize you are a member and adjust your CLE price to $0. While LBS is hosting the event, the CLE is not about a low bono approach to guardianship. The CLE course will cover the legal aspects of the new guardianship-custody laws.

The third party custody provisions (for grandparents, relatives, and others) in the new Uniform Guardianship Act does replace RCW 26.10, but does not replace the new grandparents rights (and relative’s rights) in RCW 26.11 to request visitation with a child, as opposed to custody of a child.

Presenters Celeste Miller and Kay King

Celeste Miller is the KCBA Statewide Kinship Care Legal Aid Coordinator. Previously she ran a solo low bono family law firm, Social Justice Advocates. She is a 2010 graduate of Seattle University School of Law, and holds a Masters in Social Work from Portland State University. She is the immediate past chair of the Low Bono Section, and has served on it’s founding and executive committees since 2011. Celeste’s office is at 1200 Fifth Ave. Suite 700, Seattle, WA, and can be reached at (206) 267-7073.

Kay King serves as a Senior Court Analyst in the AOC Office of Guardianship and Elder Services. She has practiced in finance, trust and estate tax, and Medicare health care contracting and compliance, and served as a volunteer dependency GAL. Kay holds a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

What Is Low Bono?

In a broad sense, low bono is the principle of increasing access to law-related services for people of moderate means who do not qualify for pro bono assistance, but cannot afford the fees private attorneys typically charge under traditional law firm models. There are opportunities to provide low bono services in the legal profession, and in every other profession that intersects with the delivery of legal services.

Low bono service providers find many creative ways to provide their services, and the list of possibilities continues to grow as practitioners try out new models of service delivery. Some examples of low bono services include:

Using flexible pricing models, including sliding-fee scales, flat fees, payment plans, third-party payments, even crowdfunding
Unbundling services
Increasing the efficiency of delivering common services, such as adopting back office technologies and appropriately delegating tasks
Commoditizing certain services, including online service delivery, automated intake, publication of legal guides, self-help kiosks, and document automation for common documents
Mindfully and creatively using clients’ limited legal budgets, such as when crafting discovery requests
Adopting a methodology of client counseling and litigation in which practitioners seek early and affordable resolutions when appropriate, even when it would be more profitable to engage in protracted conflict

Low Bono Section Benefits

The greatest benefit of joining the Low Bono Section is the opportunity to build lasting relationships with a community of like-minded professionals. For its members, the Low Bono Section provides a forum and opportunity for education, training, sharing of forms, practice tips, client counseling techniques, and alternative techniques for conflict resolution. The section provides its members with free mentorship opportunities, discounted admission to low-bono-oriented CLEs, networking and referral opportunities with other low bono professionals, leadership development opportunities, and more.

First Teacher Zoom activity September 21 2020: Preparing for kindergarten

September 5, 2020

On Monday, September 21, 2020, at 10:00 a.m., Hellen Haller elementary school teacher Stephanie Grotzke-Nash will help parents and kids prepare for Kindergarten by reading stories and talking about what to expect.

Stephanie will read Edward the Emu and Put me in the Zoo.

For more parenting activities and skill building programs, visit the ClallamCountyBar.com Parenting Info page.

Did you know Kindergarten was first practiced in Germany and the word is German for children’s garden? Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th century in Bavaria and Alsace to serve children whose parents both worked outside home. The term was coined by the German Friedrich Fröbel, whose approach globally influenced early-years education. Today, the term is used in many countries to describe a variety of educational institutions and learning spaces for children ranging from 2 to 6 or 7 years of age, based on a variety of teaching methods. (From Wikipedia.)

Please join and share your questions and experiences, and invite your children to ask questions and get involved. A Zoom link will be available at First Teacher’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/FirstTeacherPMF.

First Teacher Zoom activities are free to parents and children in Port Angeles, Sequim, Clallam Bay, Neah Bay, Forks, and anywhere in Clallam County. These activities will offered weekly during the coronavirus times. Check back for upcoming sessions. Contact the First Teacher program if you want to host a Zoom activity for children.

First Teacher is a service of the Parenting Matters Foundation.

Law is an important service to the health of our community. Parenting is even more important.

Homebound parenting activities list by Prevention Works

September 3, 2020

Prevention Works! of Clallam County has posted a list of homebound parenting activities to support families during the pandemic. You can find the list here:

https://www.preventionworkscc.org/resources/home-bound-activities.html

Please contribute to the list by emailing your ideas to [email protected]

In addition to general parenting and toddler activities, they have started a list of things to do promote skills that all children benefit from. These include reading, math, language, culture, history, animals and the natural world, virtual tours to travel the world, science, chemistry, biology, technology, music, writing, and college preparation.

Ellen Galinsky provides a simple list of 7 essential life skills to teach kids. Ellen describes them in her book Mind in the Making: The seven essential life skills every child needs. Those skills are:

Focus and Self Control
Perspective Taking
Communicating
Making Connections (between things)
Critical Thinking
Taking on Challenges
Self Directed Engaged Learning

Dr. Darlene Clemmons, a Clallam County treasure, has created a series of Mind in the Making mini-messages, easy to digest emails for parents. You can find more information about Mind in the Making and the mini messages at https://markbaumann.com/client-resources/mitm-mini-messages/.

Pandemic parenting

August 26, 2020

Law is important to the health of our community. Parenting is even more important… and harder during the pandemic. To help parents in the coronavirus times, ClallamCountyBar.com is re-instituting its parenting initiative by posting local news and resources which may be of help parents.

Send us any items you would like us to post about education and activities in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks, Neah Bay, La Push, Joyce, Clallam Bay, or anywhere in Clallam County. Please provide “camera ready” information in the body of your email which is ready to cut and paste.

Click here for parent-child activities in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks, Neah Bay, and the rest of Clallam County.

SNACCMS stands for Sports, Nature, Arts, Culture, Clubs, Music, and Spirituality. The term is intended to help parents with creative thinking about “extracurricular activities.” The SNACCMS concept, and how it relates to enhanced neural development in children is explained more here.

First Teacher Zoom activity September 14 2020: Stretches and poses

August 26, 2020

On Monday, September 14, 2020, at 10:00 a.m., physical therapist Cherry Bibler will read aloud and demonstrate stretches and poses to get your bodies moving and flexible.

First Teacher is a service of the Parenting Matters Foundation.

Law is an important service to the health of our community. Parenting is even more important.

First Teacher Zoom session August 31, 2020 -training service dogs

August 25, 2020

On August 31, 2020, at 10:00 a.m., First Teacher will host a Zoom activity for parents and children about training service dogs. Great Futures preschool teacher Kim Rosales and Hadley, her Black Labrador Retriever, will talk about their experience training service dogs. Kim will read out loud, share some experiences, and take questions from everyone participating.

Please join and share your questions and experiences with service dogs, and encourage your children to ask questions and get involved. A Zoom link will be available at First Teacher’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/FirstTeacherPMF. Check back for future Zoom activity information.

First Teacher Zoom activities are free to parents and children in Port Angeles, Sequim, Clallam Bay, Neah Bay, Forks, and anywhere in Clallam County. Contact First Teacher if you would like to host a Zoom activity.

First Teacher is a service of the nonprofit Parenting Matters Foundation.

Law is an important service to the health of our community. Parenting is even more important.

First Teacher Zoom activities for Clallam parents

August 25, 2020

The First Teacher program is hosting a series of parent-child online activities with Zoom events during the COVID-19 pandemic. These will be free parent-child activities, discussions, and educational events for parents, caregivers, and guardians in Clallam County. They will be weekly, at 10:00 a.m. every Monday. Parents and kids can ask questions via Zoom’s chat feature.

The sessions will usually involve a host reading a story and facilitating a discussion about a topic related to parenting and children’s needs. Topics will range from discussing childhood development to doing physical activities to considering special needs some people in our community have.

Topics in the first part of the series will include preparing preschoolers for kindergarten, exploring sibling rivalry, stretching and poses to promote body awareness and flexibility, and training and working with service dogs.

Topics will be of interest to toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary school children. If you have something you want to share, please consider being a session host. Contact First Teacher with your suggestions.

To join the Zoom session, go to First Teacher’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/FirstTeacherPMF.

The First Teacher Zoom sessions started August 10, 2020, and are expected to continue to run during the pandemic times. Families from Port Angeles, Sequim, Joyce, Neah Bay, Clallam Bay, La Push, Forks, and anywhere in Clallam County are invited.

Core parenting skills

Kids don’t come with manuals. Some parenting skills are innate and don’t need to be learned, but most parenting skills need to be learned or at least developed. The learning process is never ending.

When parents develop their parenting skills they can give their children many things. The act of developing our own skills models for our kids that life is a constant effort to improve ourselves. We can provide our kids a life full of meaning, kindness, flexibility and resilience. Helping our kids to stop and think about their experiences teaches critical thinking and self-control skills. When we learn to accept and acknowledge our children’s feelings, and help them work through their feelings, we help them learn to utilize all of their many neural networks. Developing our own parenting and relationship skills develops, to the fullest extent as possible, our child’s brains.

You can find a list of excellent and easy to use parenting books and resources based on modern neuroscience principles and attachment theory at this page.

Patsene Dashiel is new Parenting Matters Foundation director

August 25, 2020

Sequim – Patsene Dashiell is the new Parenting Matters Foundation and First Teacher Executive Director. She succeeds Executive Director Patty Waite, who has retired from the position.

Parenting Matters is a non-profit organization that serves as a resource for parents of young children. Parenting Matters oversees the First Teacher program for parents of children from birth to kindergarten and provides parenting classes throughout Clallam County.

The group sends out monthly parenting newsletters with tips and information on parenting, child development, healthy practices and local activities.

It hosts a family resource room at the Sequim unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula at 400 W. Fir St. There, children are given free books and members of the community read with children. The room is currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The foundation’s board voted Dashiell the new chief of the organization, which oversees the First Teacher program, earlier this year. Dashiell began her new post in late June.

Dashiell has worked in school communications and community relations in the Sequim and Port Angeles School Districts during the last decade. Prior to that, she managed the First Teacher room operations for two years. She is the former business owner of Jetxon U.S.A. Ltd. Apparel Sourcing and founder of Project Scrubs, a medical apparel retailer.

“My first introduction to this program was attending a parenting meeting in 1993 when I had just arrived in Sequim with two daughters under the age of four. At that event, I met other parents who have remained good friends. I also met Cynthia Martin, whose passion for providing parenting information all these years has benefitted countless families on the Olympic peninsula.”
Patsene Dashiell

Cynthia Martin is the founder of the First Teacher program and initial executive director of Parenting Matters Foundation. Martin’s column on parenting advice appears weekly in the Sequim Gazette.

“Entering into this position feels very much like coming full circle, I am excited to apply my skills and experience in continuing the good work of this organization to strengthen families in our community.”
Patsene Dashiell

For more information about the group or to sign up for the free parenting newsletter, see www.facebook.com/FirstTeacher PMF.

To reach Patsene Dashiell, email [email protected] or call 360.681.2250.

Parenting Plans and COVID-19

April 1, 2020

Governor Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy declaration does appear to mean Parenting Plans should continue to be followed. If things take a down turn because of the COVID-19 virus, it is possible this may change. This page will be updated as needed.

A number of county courts (not Clallam) have issued orders requiring that Parenting Plans must be followed absent an emergency and a court order allowing a deviation. Parents, of course, can agree to alter parenting plans, which should be confirmed in an email or text message. (Editor: I am not aware of any county court issuing a contrary order.)

The following article is from the Washington Courts web page, http://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/?fa=newsinfo.internetdetail&newsid=35214&fbclid=IwAR23xGOZ6ZLQriM-IznuRGTUWifLLgJxVjt1kRZQAYJpEj02Yms5VmCLlL4

Washington Courts: News and Information

Information on Parenting Plans in Washington State

March 27, 2020

On March 26, Governor Jay Inslee issued the following order addressing parent/child visitation in dependency matters. That order and the Governor’s messages announcing it clarify that Washington’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order does not prevent compliance with private parenting plans for residents of Washington State.

Further, “the governor encourages parents who are co-parenting under a parenting plan to communicate with one another during this difficult time in order to both maintain family relationships and to protect the best interests and health of each child.” Further information can be found online at www.governor.wa.gov.

For additional information on co-parenting during this difficult time, a special resource page of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) can be found at www.afccnet.org/Coronavirus. The AFCC and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers has also published seven guidelines for parents who are divorced/separated and sharing custody of children during the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Both links and additional information can be found on the Washington Courts’ dedicated COVID Response web page at www.courts.wa.gov/COVID19