Tribe: Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe
Section 33.01.16 Peacemaker Conference
A. Request for Peacemaker Conference. After a Preliminary Hearing has been held, any party to the
proceeding may file with the Court Clerk a request for a Peacemaker Conference. The Court may
also provisionally transfer a case to a Peacemaker Conference on its own motion.
B. Setting the Peacemaker Conference. The Court Clerk shall schedule the peacemaker conference
to be held no later than twenty (20) days after the Request for Peacemaker Conference has
been filed.
C. Peacemaker Conference – Required Notice.
1. Notice of the Peacemaker Conference shall be given at least five (5) days before the
hearing. The notice shall include:
a. The reason for the Peacemaker Conference;
b. The date, time, and place of the conference; and
c. A copy of the Petition for Fact Finding.
2. The following persons shall be served with the required notice:
a. The child’s parents;
b. The child’s guardian or custodian;
c. The child advocate;
d. The Presenting Officer; and
e. The Indian Child Welfare Department.
3. Notice shall be served in the manner provided for in Section 33.01.09 of this Title.
Peacemaker Conference – Procedure. The following procedures apply to Peacemaker
Conferences:
1. The hearing shall be informal and conducted according to the process established by the
Court.
2. No substantive information obtained at the conference may be admitted into evidence
at a court hearing or any other court proceeding unless such information can be
substantiated by outside evidence. However, the terms of an agreed upon Family
Preservation Plan are admissible as evidence at a subsequent proceeding involving the
child.
3. If an agreement is reached at a Peacemaker Conference, it shall be set forth in writing
including any conditions or requirements to be performed. The child, the child’s
parent(s), the child’s guardian, the child advocate, and the Tribe’s presenting officer or a
representative of the Jamestown Indian Child Welfare Department on behalf of the
Tribe shall sign the agreement.
4. The agreement shall be for a fixed period of time and shall not continue beyond the
child’s eighteenth (18) birthday.
5. If no agreement is reached during the Peacemaker Conference or the parties fail to
appear at the scheduled conference, a Fact-Finding Hearing shall be scheduled as soon
as practical.
Monitoring – Failure to Comply with Agreement.
1. The Indian Child Welfare Department shall monitor any agreement reached at a
Peacemaker Conference throughout its term. If the Indian Child Welfare Department
finds that there has been a failure to comply with the terms of an agreement, it may
recommend that the Presenting Officer proceed with a Fact-Finding Hearing.
2. At the Fact-Finding Hearing, the child or his or her parent or guardian may challenge
before the Court the allegation of noncompliance with the agreed disposition. If the Court finds that the parties have complied, it shall dismiss the petition and reinstate the
agreed disposition.
F. Formalization of Agreement.
1. When the parties to a Peacemaker Conference reach an agreement that they wish to
have confirmed and recorded as a formal order of the Court, they shall present a draft
order to the Court for its consideration. The Court may enter an order only when the
following conditions have been met and are set forth in the order:
a. The Court has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter of the
agreement;
b. All necessary parties have actual knowledge of the proposed order and have
agreed to it;
c. The order contains the complete agreement of the parties and contains enough
information regarding the full agreement so a dispute as to the order is not
likely to arise in the future; and
d. The order is otherwise proper and enforceable.
2. Any agreement in which a parent or guardian voluntarily consents to place his or her
child in foster care must be signed before a judge or judicial officer of the Court. The
judge or judicial officer shall first question the parent or guardian to determine that they
understand the terms of the agreement and consequences of the consent.
3. No order may be entered which terminates parental rights unless the requirements of
Section 33.01.19 of this Title have been met.
4. An order of the Court upon a Peacemaker Conference agreement may be enforced as is
any other order of the Court.