SOI # 001 Family Court Custody and Visitation Mediation Services: Onondaga and Oswego Counties

Purpose

The New York State Unified Court System (UCS) is seeking organizations that can provide custody and visitation mediation services for cases referred by Oswego and Onondaga County Family Courts.

Background

UCS seeks letters of interest to provide the services detailed herein for anticipated funding totaling $225,000 annually beginning on April 1, 2025 for a period of up two (2) years and nine (9) months, terminating on December 31, 2026.

Mediation is a voluntary and confidential process in which a neutral third party—the mediator— helps people communicate and negotiate with one another. Mediation provides a forum in which parties can discuss their dispute(s), and the mediator moderates that discussion to the extent that the parties indicate that they need the mediator’s assistance. Although parties are not obligated to reach agreement during mediation, the process frequently concludes with a written agreement

Custody and visitation mediation provides parents the opportunity to decide physical and legal custody and/or develop a parenting plan that address any of the wide range of issues parents would like to decide including, but not limited to, parenting time, holidays and vacations, child activities, educational issues, religious upbringing, visits with relatives, health care, diet, parenting styles, and communication between parents. While custody and visitation cases can resolve in a single two-hour mediation session, they typically require multiple sessions.

Program Services

Day to day provision of custody and visitation mediation for cases referred from Onondaga and Oswego County Family Courts, including:

• Onondaga Family Court:
  • Provider shall receive up to six hundred and seventy-five (675) Article 6 Custody/Visitation Family File (FF) case referrals annually, more specifically
  • up to twenty-seven (27) FF case referrals biweekly during fifty (50) weeks a year.
  • Provider’s intake staff and/or mediator(s) shall provide on-site presence in a designated office provided by the court, full-time during court hours, five (5) days a week.
• Oswego Family Court: Provider shall receive referrals of up to three hundred and twenty-five (325) Article 6 Custody/Visitation Family File (FF) cases annually, more specifically up to thirteen (13) FF case referrals biweekly during fifty (50) weeks a year. Provider may, at its discretion, have intake staff and, or mediator(s) on-site at Oswego Family Court. The Court will identify an on-site office for the provider should it elect to do so.
• Conduct case intake and case management for all referred cases including educating referred parties about mediation and its benefits; prepare interested parties to participate in mediation; and following-up with parties after mediation services;
• Conduct intimate partner violence screening to ensure that only appropriate cases proceed to mediation;
• Preparing mediation agreements and court paperwork to the specification of the court;
• Ensure that all mediators providing services have met the minimum standards for mediation training and experience, as outlined in Part 146 ( http://ww2.nycourts.gov/ip/adr/Part146.shtml );
• Utilize mediators who mediate using a nondirective nonevaluative style of mediation;
• Seek to utilize diverse mediators who reflect the residents of Onondaga and Oswego Counties;
• Supervise all mediators to ensure high quality of services and ensure that they complete annual continuing education requirement;
• Maintain professional and collegial relationships with court staff and Judges;
• Utilize a database to store case and participant information;
• Provide reports to the court on a quarterly basis regarding case activity, case outcomes, and client satisfaction; and
• Maintaining confidential case files.

Letter of Interest

Funding is estimated to total $225,000 annually.

To indicate interest in and eligibility to provide these services, please submit:

• a letter of interest (recommended length: 2-3 pages) to:

Bridget McAvoy at bmcavoy@nycourts.gov

The letter of interest should clearly explain 1) prior experience providing services detailed in the specification, 2) expertise and knowledge of the legal and situational issues related to cases heard in family court, and 3) the responding entity’s capacity to administer the program.

Letters of interest are due at the address above by March 20, 2025 at 2:00PM.