The Legislature required the Supreme Court to hire 20 case coordinators by October 1, 1999. In 2000, the Supreme Court hired an additional 13 case coordinators so that all 33 family law masters now have a case coordinator. Given the increase in law masters, case coordinators, and secretary-clerks, the Supreme Court had to purchase additional equipment and work with county commissions to find additional office space. Previously, family law master regions sponsored parent education and mediation on a voluntary basis. Parent education is now available in all 55 counties, and has been very successful.
Mediation also is available statewide.
Parents pay for mediation on a uniform sliding scale based on ability to pay. In 2000, the Supreme Court secured grants and alternate sources of funding to help pay for mediation for indigent parents, and we will continue our efforts. We celebrated our greatest accomplishment in the family law area for 2000 with a bang in November when West Virginia voters overwhelmingly passed the Unified Family Court Amendment. The amendment will allow the Legislature to create modern family courts to handle all family law issues. While our court system has worked hard and successfully to get the new system up and running, we must realize that we don t have a finished product today.