Present: Judge Sonja Clapp, Chair Judge Todd Cresap, by phone Jennifer Barry (for Tara Mulhauser) Scott Davis Karen Kringlie Dale Rivard Bob Rutten Donna Wunderlich Connie Portscheller, by phone
Absent: Judge Richard Grosz Judge David Reich Robin Huseby Tara Muhlhauser
Guest: Steve Sitting Bear
Staff: Louis Hentzen Lee Ann Barnhardt, by phone Catherine Palsgraaf (scribe)
Judge Clapp called the meeting to order. Judge Clapp welcomed Jennifer Barry, Early
Childhood Services Administrator, who is representing the ND Department of Human Services
until a new director is hired.
Approval of September 5, 2012 Minutes A motion was made by Dale Rivard to approve the September 5, 2012 minutes. The
motion was seconded by Karen Kringlie, motion carried.
Sub-Committee Reports
GAL Sub-Committee – Robin Huseby, Chair. Catie Palsgraaf reported on potential sub-committee projects, such as updates to N.D.R.Juv.P. 17 to provide a specific time frame for
GAL’s providing the report to Juvenile Court for dissemination and identifying a specific
hearing for the report.
ICWA Sub-Committee – Connie Portscheller, Chair. Ms. Portscheller reported that the next
sub-committee meeting will be December 18, 2012 and include ND Department of Social Work
audit personnel to answer questions. She updated on the progress of the ICWA audit. Judge
Clapp suggested that clerks in each district could scan the identified ICWA cases into Odyssey
so paper reviews will not be necessary. Louie Hentzen will request permission from Sally
Holewa.
Scott Davis commented on the recent issues in South Dakota involving the perception among the
South Dakota tribes and how ICWA cases are handled in the court system. South Dakota tribes
sent a letter collectively to the federal government about unhappiness with the manner in which
South Dakota courts conduct ICWA cases. Mr. Davis relayed that he spoke to the ICWA
Director at Standing Rock and he feels that the North Dakota courts are doing a much better job
than South Dakota courts. Mr. Davis commented that there is good representation on the ICWA
sub-committee with good tribal institutional knowledge of ICWA and the RFP process was fair.
Mr. Rivard asked Mr. Davis about his process when he receives complaints: does he relay the
complaint to the people involved. Mr. Rivard has not heard of any complaints involving his
office and would like to know if/when complaints arise. Mr. Davis explained that he is careful
to remain objective and does not currently have a process. He would be open to a process within
the CIP committee if that is something in which the committee is interested. Mr. Davis is also
willing to be a resource to accessing tribal judges and attorneys.
Education Sub-Committee – Judge David Reich, Chair. Lee Ann Barnhardt reported that the
next education project is the ICWA conference. Registration information will be available on
the NATI website shortly. The conference will be held February 20-22, 2013 at the Seven Seas
Inn in Mandan, ND. The ICWA planning committee will meet on Monday, December 17, 2012
to finalize the agenda and other details. Ms. Barnhardt asked the committee if there is value to
making registration fee payment available to states attorneys and indigent defense attorneys. In
the past CIP funds have been used to pay registration fees for court staff and lay GAL’s. Mr.
Rivard stated that the response from states attorneys would likely be better if fees were paid,
however, states attorneys meet at the end of January 2013, so they may not be able to attend a
conference in February 2013. Ms. Barnhardt stated that registration costs have gone up, so
paying registration fees may soften the blow, even though travel is not covered.
Quarterly online training for judicial referees will begin in 2013. One online training session
will be related to ICWA and will be developed based on audit outcomes and language required
to be in orders.
Ms. Barnhardt will work with Brad and the GAL Sub-Committee on summer GAL training.
Issues that come up in evaluations and auditing can be addressed in this training. Training needs
to be more closely tied to quality measures that are required in the CIP grant report measures and
outcomes.
Data Collection and Analysis Sub-Committee – Karen Kringlie, Chair. Ms. Kringlie reported
that the Odyssey continuance report is available. The next step is to train the schedulers to
correctly select the appropriate continuance/reset reason. The actual instructions are in the
Odyssey manual on page 57. The Go-To-Meeting training will most likely happen in February
or March 2013, and then the sub-committee will run sample reports and review for problems or
concerns and conduct analysis. The report is available in both pdf and Excel formats, so sorting
is very straightforward and useable. Once the training occurs, the sub-committee will feel more
confident in the data. The training will be approximately 30-60 minutes. The sub-committee is
looking at adding more schedulers to the membership to ensure they are fully represented. Bob
Rutten asked who will see this information beyond the CIP Committee. Ms. Kringlie responded
that it’s probable the presiding judge of a hearing officer who may have an issue would see the
data. Mr. Rutten asked if this report will be public, as in his education world all federally funded
grant reports are public with media scrutiny. Ms. Barnhardt clarified that this year the report to
the federal CIP focuses on how we plan to gather the information and next year we will report
the conclusions from the data collected. Ms. Kringlie will contact Kim to schedule the training.
The sub-committee will look at national standards as a guide to set benchmarks.
Old Business None.
New Business Ms. Kringlie inquired about the status of the GAL budget overages. Mr. Hentzen reported that
the Administrative Council approved adding money for GAL administration in the general fund,
but final approval by the legislature is necessary. If approved, the CIP grant will no longer fund
GAL administration costs. The issue now is the GAL program is spending more. Mr. Rivard
stated that the GAL’s are asked to do more on every case, which takes more time, and also are
being monitored and measured. When expectations increase, costs increase. Mr. Rivard asked if
the GAL program budget will increase. Mr. Hentzen answered that Don makes adjustments to
the budget based on the previous biennium.
The tentative dates of the annual CIP Conference in Washington DC are either May 1-3, 2013 or
May 8-10, 2013. The federal CIP group is still in the process of securing conference facilities
and will announce the firm dates shortly.
2013 Meeting Dates March 8, 2013 Bismarck (10am) June 12, 2013 Bismarck (10am) September 6, 2013 Bismarck (1pm) December 13, 2013 Grand Forks (10am)
A motion was made by Dale Rivard to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Karen
Kringlie, motion carried.