Parental Defense Alliance of Utah

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Save the Date for the 2016 PDA Conference!

Mark your calendars! The Annual Conference of the Parental Defense Alliance of Utah will be on

April 28-29, 2016

We look forward to seeing you again!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Want the Handout from the E-Filing Training?

The Court provided us with a nice handout at the E-Filing Training last Friday, November 6, 2015.

They have put together a Power Point presentation with screenshots that is specifically for defense counsel. As of the date of the training it was not available online. The handout included 42 pages of full color slides from the Power Point presentation.

It's a great reference and would allow you to even write some notes on it as you perfect the E-Filing process.

If you are interested in a hard copy, email Kate Hansen at kate@parentaldefense.org and leave your name and address. We will stick one in the mail for you.

Copies are limited and we will not produce more once they are gone.

Proposed Enhancements for the CARE E-Filing System

We had a great turnout for our E-Filing training last Friday, November 6, 2015. In addition to some general information about the E-Filing system CARE, Brody Arishita of the courts provided live demonstrations and explanations of various aspects of how to perform certain actions in the system.

While the system is live now (in other words you don't have to wait until December 1, 2015 to begin E-Filing on your cases), there are still enhancements that would make the system easier. The following is a list of enhancements that the PDA is passing onto the E-Filing team for consideration. If you have additional items, you can comment here or contact Kate Hansen at kate@parentaldefense.org.

PROPOSED ENHANCEMENTS TO THE CARE E-FILING SYSTEM

1. Rather that simply search by the name of the child, it would be helpful for parental defense attorneys to be able to search by parent name.

2. When adding difference cases/children to a particular filing, it would be helpful to have a check box available, rather than adding them manually.

3. It would be helpful if the contact information for counsel and state workers were available in the system, such as GALs, AGs or caseworkers.

4. On the search page it would be helpful to be able to change the default from A-A to A-Z.

5. On the MyCalendar page, it would be helpful to be able to search for a date range rather than just look at one day at a time.

6. A file repository in the system would be helpful, particularly when there are multiple users in a firm.

Thanks to all who attended and especially the court staff--Katie Gregory, Krista Airam, and Brody Aristita-- for coming!

Friday, October 23, 2015

Meet Jim Smith - Board Member for the 3rd Judicial District

As an attorney at Lokken and Associates, Jim Smith practices parental defense in child welfare cases and family dependency drug court in Utah’s Third District. He also has extensive background in family law, criminal defense, and bankruptcy law. In his position with the Parental Defense Alliance of Utah, Jim is particularly interested in giving newcomers to child welfare law the tools they need to quickly become confident and effective practitioners in a field of law that is often uniquely challenging.

Jim loves kids (he has five of them!), sailing, camping, and studying maritime and Utah history. A native Californian, he now lives with his family in Lehi where he serves as cubmaster in his local Cub Scout pack and continually adds to his collection of Titanic books and memorabilia.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

The PDA has New Board Members!

The Parental Defense Alliance is excited to introduce our new board. As previously announced we are moving to a board that will represent the various regions and judicial districts of the state. After receiving a number of qualified applicants, we have offered positions to Mark Tanner and Jim Smith. The board and it's representation now looks like the following:

Region Name	Judicial Districts	Current Board Member Representative
Northern	1 and 2	Carol Mortensen
Salt Lake	3	Jim Smith
Central	4	Grant Dickinson
Southern	5 and 6	David Boyer
Eastern	7 and 8	Mark Tanner

We look forward to tapping into the expertise and ideas of this new expanded board as we continue to serve the parental defense attorneys in the state of Utah.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Tough Love is Streaming on PBS this Month!

For those of you who may not have been able to join us for the screening of Tough Love in June, you can watch the film for the month of October on PBS. Here's the LINK.

This a a great film about the struggle parents face in trying to get their kids back after removal. One attorney who saw this in June said "Every AG, GAL and parental defense attorney should see this film!" We couldn't agree more, and hope you take the time to watch.

SHORT SYNOPSIS OF FILM

Offering a rare look at the inner workings of the American child welfare system, Tough Love chronicles the lives of two parents—one in Seattle and one in New York City—as each fights to be reunited with children taken out of their custody. Through intimate, verité footage of both families, we witness first-hand the complex and daunting bureaucracy of America’s family courts. Moreover, we come to understand the powerful role poverty and prejudice play in keeping parents and children apart— and the challenges parents must overcome in order to put their families back together. The film is approximately 85 minutes.