Tribe: Nisqually Indian Tribe
50.20 Peacemaker Conference.
50.20.01 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.
50.20.02 Setting the Peacemaker Conference.
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50.20.03 Peacemaker Conference – Required Notice.
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50.20.04 Peacemaker Conference – Procedure.
(b) (c) The following procedures apply to Peacemaker Conferences:
(a) (b) (c) The hearing shall be informal and conducted according to the process established
by the Court.
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.
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 Nisqually Indian Child Welfare
Department on behalf of the Tribe shall sign the agreement.
The agreement shall be for a fixed period of time and shall not continue beyond
the child’s eighteenth (18) birthday.
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.
Nothing in this Section shall preclude the parties from meeting or conferring
without a hearing or conference. If the parties come to an agreement outside of a
Peacemaker Conference, the agreement may be presented to the Court and
formalized pursuant to Section 50.20.06 below.
50.20.05 Monitoring – Failure to Comply with Agreement.
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50.20.06 Formalization of Agreement.
(a) When the parties to a Peacemaker Conference reach an agreement 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:
(i) The Court has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter of the
agreement;
(ii) All necessary parties have actual knowledge of the proposed order and
have agreed to it;
(iii) 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,
(iv) The order is otherwise proper and enforceable.
(b) (c) (d) 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 he or she understands the terms of the agreement and
consequences of the consent.
No order may be entered which terminates parental rights unless the requirements
of Chapter 50.23 of this Title have been met.
An order of the Court upon a Peacemaker Conference agreement may be enforced
as any other order of the Court.