Case Management


We've been told we may need to request case management? What is that?
What are some benefits of the process?
Are there any generalities that describe families in case management?
What are some typical issues for families in case management?
Do case managers work alone?
Do all of you work as case managers? Are you taking new cases?
If you work with us a mediator, can we ask for you as a case manager?
What does case management cost?

We’ve been told we may need to request case management? What is that?
This is a complicated question and so you get a complicated answer.

Using guidelines and procedures developed over a number of years by mediators and attorneys in conjunction with the courts, the Kansas Legislature enacted House Bill 2948 in 1996. This Bill established the process of domestic case management, an alternative to litigation and chronic use of the courts to manage custody. It is designed to facilitate the negotiation of child custody and visitation issues.

Unfortunately, the title of case manager is inherently confusing. Many state agencies and mental health centers have positions of case managers. The parameters of the roles of a case manager in mental health centers, social service agencies, or state divisions such as S.R.S., and court appointed domestic case manager are substantively different.

Domestic case management is useful when there has been escalating or prolonged conflict, or when children are being harmed by continued conflict. It is a long-term process designed to facilitate communication, educate parties in communication skills and strategies, minimize intensity and escalation, and promote reasonable resolution to both chronic and new conflicts.

Domestic case managers are appointed personally by a judge to a particular case. They do not switch cases without judicial orders. They are accountable to the courts for their work with the case.

Initially, the case manager will meet with the parties, develop an agenda of unresolved issues, and review case information and history. Case managers often also consult with attorneys for the parties, therapists, teachers, extended family, etc. As issues are resolved, and strategies for improving communication are implemented, the case manager is available for consultation or intervention when other issues arise. In theory, as parties become competent to manage their own conflicts, the need for case management will diminish. If the parties do become competent at managing their own issues for a period of two years (not using the case manager) they can be released from case management. If they do not, the case manager is assigned until the youngest child turns 18.

The parameters of the case management role differ from those of a mediator: the court appointed case manager has the authority to make recommendations to the parties and the court if and when the parties are unable to reach agreement. Thus, the case manager is both mediator and arbitrator. These recommendations cover such areas as the shared custody or visitation schedule (including holidays and vacations); residency; change of custody due to a move of a party; approval of medical treatment including psychotherapy and substance abuse treatment for children or parents; evaluations (psychological, substance use, custody, etc.); conduct or restraint from conduct. Financial issues such as child support, payment of medical bills, and other related issues may also be submitted to the case manager for resolution.
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When a case manager does make formal recommendations, they do so in writing, reporting to the court with copies to the attorneys of record and clients. Temporary recommendations, generally also written and provided clients, do not require notification of the court or attorneys. Case manager recommendations submitted to the court become temporary orders upon signature of the case manager and permanent orders when entered into the record ten working days later. Parties have the right to appeal any order or recommendation by filing a motion with the court within those ten days. They may do so through their attorneys or pro se (which means they represent themselves and do not use an attorney). The judge then reviews the appeal, the recommendation, and makes a ruling. This may or may not involve a hearing.

Either party can initiate contact with the case manager. Case management records are not considered medical or psychological records for purposes of confidentiality. Unlike attorneys, case managers are permitted to communicate directly with the judge regarding a case or case dilemma. This sort of communication, called ex-parte communication, is normally not allowed outside of the courtroom but with case management the rules are different.

The ultimate goal of case management is for parties to become competent in resolving their own conflicts in a fair and equitable manner.

What are some benefits of the process?
Cases which have repeatedly and often inappropriately consumed court time and clogged the judicial system can be managed more efficiently. Issues can be dealt with promptly. Rather than wait weeks or months for a court hearing, matters can be resolved in a matter of hours or days. The process does work to bring parties together to seek solutions to issues rather than sitting on opposite sides of a courtroom with attorneys arguing polarized positions. The emphasis shifts from the win-lose of the ‘day in court’ to a potential for ‘balance-over-time,’ and a long-range view based on children’s needs.

Decisions and recommendations are made after the case manager consults with the parties, children, and related professionals, in a time-effective, cost-effective manner. The case manager has the authority to seek out relevant information that might otherwise not be available in a more formal court hearing. The authority of the case manager (to mediate but, when necessary, to arbitrate) can function to diminish intensity. The possible length of the process (until the youngest child turns eighteen) allows for long-term solutions and agreements. The case manager can also require regularly scheduled meetings (as in monthly or 4 x a year) to discuss anticipated as well as current conflicts, focusing on shared decision-making and compromise. Blow-ups and major miscommunications (often the cause for court actions) can be thus averted.


Are there any generalities that describe families in case management?
Quite often, there are unresolved marital or divorce issues that make it difficult for one or both partners to see beyond their own emotional pain and anger and operate in ways that are in the best interests of the children. Power struggles prevail. One or more of the parents may have an emotional illness such as a personality disorder or manic-depression, an addiction, or a diminished capacity to parent. A parent may be stuck in a victim role (blaming the courts, ex-spouse, etc.). In general, parents have not discovered how to communicate about their children without animosity and intensity.
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Sometimes there are simply personality types that are inherently incompatible, such an avoidant parent (does not return calls, delays in making even basic decisions, phobic about the ex, regards accommodating as loss, prefers total separation and autonomy during ‘their’ time with children, resists scheduled activities) coupled with an anxious or compulsive parent (calls 3 times to find out why the other not returning calls, has a need to quickly resolve issues, prefers flexibility, wants to ‘share’ decisions,’ invested in lots of activities). Such parents often regard each other as a) passive-aggressive and manipulative, or b) harassing and over-controlling. With other personality types they can be quite functional, but with each other, combined with a marital history of frustration and disappointments, the combo can be challenge to shared parenting. This is just one example.

Quite often, one or both parents have exceptional difficulty separating out what the ex-spouse has done to them and how competent that individual might otherwise be as a parent. They emotionally align their own needs with those of the children. They often miss seeing positive interactions, and fixate on the negative. They may repeatedly put their children in the middle (and justify it under the guise of “the kids have a right to know the truth about _______ “). They may see the ex-spouse as a threat to their own relationship with their children, if not to the children directly.

What are some typical issues for families in case management?
1) Primary residency dispute which the court has already heard and ruled on; visitation disputes; expansion of visitation disputes; 2) School attendance site dispute or school access disputes; 3) Medical provider / treatment / payment disputes; 4) Communication conflicts / issues of respect (timeliness, last minute changes, etc.); 5) Neglect allegations; 6) Financial disputes; 7) Allegations of instability, mental illness, physical or sexual abuse; 8) Religious differences and how that translates into lifestyle, discipline, and accusations of moral laxity.

Do case managers work alone?
There is a model for case management in Douglas County that is somewhat unique. The Douglas County Judicial District is committed to providing quality case management services. To insure that there are standards and guidelines for practice, anyone assigned a case in Douglas County must be part of the case management team and participate in monthly meetings at the courthouse. These meetings involve both judicial consult and case review and team supervision and review, as well as an on-going discussion of case management procedures and issues. In addition, team members often consult each other whenever struggling with a challenging case issue. To the best of our knowledge, we are the only judicial district in the state of Kansas with such requirements and checks-and-balances for the process.

Do all of you work as case managers? Are you taking new cases?
Yes, but with some restrictions. We each have current case management cases. However, case management is much more difficult, and more long-term, than mediation. Because case management can be so intense, we are accepting only limited appointments (time-limited or issue-limited) and then only as a case management team, which means that we ask the judge to appoint two of us together to co-manage the case rather than having just one case manager. For the same reasons that we advocate team-mediation, we prefer team case management.

If you work with us a mediator, can we ask for you as a case manager?
No. We cannot work with you as a mediator or therapist and then as a case manager.
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What does casemanagement cost?
Fees vary by case manager. In general, case managers who are attorneys are more expensive than case managers who are mental health professionals.

We require a $500.00 initial payment per party to open a case management case. We bill at the same rate as mediation ($120 per hour). This fee is shared by the parties when we have joint meetings, or the responsibility of each party for individual meetings. If one party consistently initiates contact without good cause, fosters disputes, or fails to cooperate with case management directives, thus requiring additional services, the case manager may allocate fees to said party. In other words, if one party keeps arguing about an issue when that issue has been decided by the court, the parent who is not arguing but rather following the court rulings should not be financially penalized.

Case management often involves intensive work and extensive e-mails. If e-mails are more frequent than 5 per month, an e-mail surcharge may apply.

If clients are consistently delinquent in payment of case management fees, services may be temporarily suspended until payments are current.