LEGAL ALERT: New Rules and Role for Colorado CFI’s
Why have changes been made?
In April of 2011 the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Colorado made the first in a series of expected changes to the way the Colorado Court System will utilize the services of Child and Family Investigators (CFI's).
Following a history of numerous complaints to the courts involving issues with CFI’s, the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court ordered a multidisciplinary committee to investigate, look for trends and make recommendations to address any systemic issues that were identified. This committee, called The Standing Committee on Family Issues, included judges, attorneys and mental health professionals.
The largest trend identified by the Committee was a drift in the use of CFI’s over time that had resulted in the practice of using CFI’s in a way that was indistinguishable from the use of Parental Responsibilities Evaluations (PRE’s). The specific legislative intent in creating CFI’s had become lost in practice.
Changes made as of April 2011
CFI’s were originally designed to be narrow fact-finding investigations that were observational and objective in nature whereas PRE’s were designed to be broad based parenting evaluations that included observation as well as psychological analysis and testing. This original distinction is why the qualifications for CFI’s were so distinct from the qualifications required for PRE’s.
- A CFI can be an attorney, a mental health professional or any qualified individual with and independent perspective acceptable to the Court. You can see that this leaves a lot of room for a court to appoint a variety of people from many walks of life to be a CFI.
- In contrast, a PRE appointee must be a licensed mental health professional that is competent, by training and experience in the following:
- A CFI can be an attorney, a mental health professional or any qualified individual with and independent perspective acceptable to the Court. You can see that this leaves a lot of room for a court to appoint a variety of people from many walks of life to be a CFI.
- In contrast, a PRE appointee must be a licensed mental health professional that is competent, by training and experience in the following:
- The effects of divorce and re-marriage on children, adults and families,
- Appropriate parenting techniques,
- Child and adult psychopathology,
- Applicable clinical assessment techniques, and
- Legal and ethical requirements of a PRE.
As of the writing of this article, the Chief Justice has amended Chief Justice Directive 04-08 that sets out the rules for CFI’s as follows:
- There is now a $2,000.00 cap on CFI investigations. This cap cannot be changed unless there is an order of the Court specifically finding extraordinary circumstances that justify fees and costs that exceed this cap.
- The CFI is no longer allowed to perform psychological testing or drug and alcohol evaluations themselves.
- There is no longer quasi-judicial immunity in the order of appointment of a CFI.
- The CFI no longer has the authority to conduct a meeting with parties when a protection order restrains such contact.
CFI investigations are now to be used for narrow and distinguishable issues and the Court is required to give specific instructions on the narrow issue to be investigated. An example might be an issue regarding how the child is doing in school under the current parenting plan or how a child might be adapting to a new household.
If there is a custody dispute where the parties cannot agree on who should be the primary parent or how parenting time or decision making should be allocated, or if there is a question as to a parties mental health or ability to parent, then the appropriate action is to request a full PRE with a licensed mental health professional that is qualified under the PRE rules as described above.
Potential future CFI rule changes and remaining work for the Committee in 2011 include:
- Examine the most effective, efficient and economical process for training and continuing education for CFI’s
- Establish protocols that require criminal background checks for all CFI’s and require CFI’s to report violations of the law and professional disciplinary actions or lawsuits filed against them.
- Explore how to establish a statewide list and how to work with local district courts to identify and appoint CFI’s who are qualified and acceptable to the court.
- Improve the process by which a complaint about a CFI is made and considered by the court.
I have created a more detailed comparison chart to compare the use of CFI’s with PRE’s that I will make available on our website at www.matthewslaw.com. You can also give me a call if you have a specific question at 303-329-3802.
