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Family Court Services' mandatory instructions for child custody recommending counseling (CCRC) and minor interviews: within 24 hours of being ordered to attend CCRC or to have a child interviewed, the online Orientation/Intake completed on the court's website (allowing 90 minutes), the e-mailed intake form being the proof of completion, with help from the Self-Help Resource Center (559-737-5500) or Family Court Services (559-730-5000, Option 6, between 8AM and 4PM), and changes of contact information telephoned in before the session; an in-person session unless a remote session is circled or ordered, the parties arriving 10-15 minutes early at Room 204 on the second floor of the Visalia Courthouse or at the South County Justice Center in Porterville, checking in at the Self-Help Resource Center, no one else brought, and a session canceled and the Court notified of a failure to appear after a 15-minute grace period; remote (telephone) sessions for all cases with allegations of domestic violence and all Spanish-language CCRC cases in Porterville, the mediator calling at the session time (Zoom or a conference call) and a party not called within 10 minutes contacting Family Court Services; and the ground rules - one to two hours allowed, confidential sessions, no recording, speaker phone or others present, a quiet, private place for a remote session, no shared documents or photos, the counselor's directives followed, and a violation reported to the Judicial Officer as a failure to cooperate.
California > Fifth Appellate District > Tulare County > Superior Court of California, County of Tulare
Instructions for Family Court Services (FCS) Online Orientation/Intake and Counseling Services: CCRC Date/Time:______________@ ______ AM/PM (circle one) Session Type: Remote / In-Person (circle one) Minor Interview Date/Time: ___________@________ AM/PM (Circle one) (In-Person) Return to Court Date/Time: ____________@ ________ AM/PM (Circle one) Within 24 hours of being ordered to attend Child Custody Recommending Counseling or for a child to be interviewed, you MUST: Complete online Orientation/Intake at: (Choose one option) 1. https://www.tulare.courts.ca.gov/divisions/family-court-services/family-dispute-resolution (Allow 90 minutes for completion). For other languages, select the Translate button at the top of the screen in the center and select the down arrow for language options. 2. Hover your camera on your device over the QR Code; then select the link when it populates on your device. 3. Go to the court’s website at: www.tulare.courts.ca.gov At the top of the page, select the Divisions tab; then select Family Court Services. Select the Online Family Dispute Resolution Orientation located in a blue box on the right side at the top. Once completed and submitted, Family Court Services will receive your electronically emailed intake form which is proof of completion of orientation and it will be provided to the assigned counselor for review. ➢ If you do not have an email account, you are able to obtain one for free by going to www.google.com (or a provider of your choice). Select Gmail at the top right corner and follow instructions to create an email account. ➢ If you do not have access to a computer or mobile device, please ask a friend or family member for assistance, or contact the Self-Help Resource Center at 559-737-5500 for use of their computers. You may contact Family Court Services at: 559-730-5000, Option 6 between the hours of 8AM and 4PM for additional guidance. IF YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION CHANGES PRIOR TO YOUR COUNSELING SESSION/MINOR INTERVIEW, CONTACT US BY TELEPHONE at: 559-730-5000, Option 6 TO PROVIDE YOUR NEW CONTACT INFORMATION. FAILURE TO PROVIDE ACCURATE CONTACT INFORMATION MAY RESULT IN CANCELATION OF YOUR APPOINTMENT AND DELAYS WITH YOUR CASE. IF NO CCRC SESSION TYPE IS CIRCLED ABOVE OR ORDERED IN COURT, YOU WILL APPEAR IN-PERSON UNLESS OTHERWISE ARRANGED BY FAMILY COURT SERVICES. In-Person CCRC appointment or Minor Interview: DO NOT COME TO THE COURTHOUSE IF YOU OR YOUR CHILDREN ARE EXHIBITING SYMPTOMS OF A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE OR WERE RECENTLY EXPOSED. PLEASE CONTACT FAMILY COURT SERVICES IF THIS IS YOUR SITUATION. If ordered to attend an in-person session or minor interview, please arrive at least 10-15 minutes prior to your session. ➢ If your session is in Visalia, go to Room 204 located on the second floor of the Visalia Courthouse and check in with the Clerk. ➢ If your session is at the South County Justice Center in Porterville, go to the Self-Help Resource Center and check in with staff. Please wait in the chairs outside of the Family Court Services Offices located under the stairway on the 1st Floor. ➢ Do not bring anyone else with you other than the parties to participate in the session. If you do not arrive within 15 minutes of your scheduled appointment (grace period), your session will be canceled and the Court will be notified of your failure to appear for the session. Remote (Telephone) CCRC appointment: (Includes all cases with allegations of Domestic Violence; and All CCRC cases with Spanish language in Porterville): Your mediator will call you at the time of your remote session to review your intake form, discuss any safety concerns, and determine the best method to conduct the remote session. The call will be from an unrecognized number. We are using Zoom as our remote platform, which provides the option for Video, telephone, or both. We also have the option to conduct the session by conference telephone call. If you do not receive a call within 10 minutes of your scheduled appointment, you MUST contact Family Court Services by telephone. If we do not hear back from you within 15 minutes of your scheduled appointment time (grace period), your session will be canceled, and the Court will be notified of your failure to appear for the session._________________ GROUND RULES FOR PARTICIPATION IN CHILD CUSTODY RECOMMENDING COUNSELING AND VOLUNTARY MEDIATION (Includes Remote and In-Person): 1. Please allow enough time to participate in your session; about one and up to two hours. 2. Mediation sessions are confidential. The only exception to this rule is when there is an approved support person present if the domestic violence protocol is used. 3. You cannot record any part of the conversation, use a speaker phone, allow anyone to be in the room with you or use your electronic device in public. You cannot allow anyone to listen to or be present for any part of your session. 4. (Remote) We encourage the use of headphones to assist with confidentiality, and this will result in better sound quality for all parties. 5. (Remote) You must select a quiet, private and confidential area where you will not be distracted or interrupted for the entirety of the session. The parties shall be fully present in the session and shall not be distracted by driving, working, childcare, or other tasks. 6. (Remote) If you are at home with children, you will need to arrange for younger children to be supervised by another person so that we are not interrupted. 7. The parties may not visually share any documents or photos during the session. 8. Follow the directives of the counselor and speak only when prompted. Otherwise, we will not be able to understand what the other party is stating. 9. The counselor has the right to end the session at any time if there is a concern that any of these ground rules are violated, and a report will be provided to the Judicial Officer indicating violation of the rules. 10. Violation of the rules will be considered a failure to cooperate with the process and can result in penalties and delay of resolution of your court case. 11. (Remote) If using a laptop of mobile device, we recommend plugging in the device during use as the battery drains quickly with conferencing applications. We also recommend using your device near a router for the best quality session. Thank you for your time and we look forward to assisting you with developing a parenting plan that is in the best interest of your children. Should you have technical difficulties, contact us at: (559) 730-5000 Option 6, between the hours of 8AM and 4PM, Monday through Friday. The Family Court Services Team
Instructions for Family Court Services (FCS) Online Orientation/Intake and Counseling Services: CCRC Date/Time:______________@ ______ AM/PM (circle one) Session Type: Remote / In-Person (circle one) Minor Interview Date/Time: ___________@________ AM/PM (Circle one) (In-Person) Return to Court Date/Time: ____________@ ________ AM/PM (Circle one) Within 24 hours of being ordered to attend Child Cust
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-14 (California T4 Tulare build 2026-10-14) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-tulare/docs/general/remediated-43026-family-court-services-online-orientation-courtroom-revised-final-07-22-22_1.pdf (250118 bytes, sha256 8fdfa25f037a228eba66ea0128596b9e05721f2764ddf9b1f9a422ac7138a006; 2 pages; a printed text layer) with the shared verbatim composer (v2 reflow): its two pages composed; each page's four-line footer (“FCS-001” and the form's title, “Mandatory”, “Revised 7 22 22” with the page number, named) removed as chrome - 8 chrome lines; 1 whitespace-only fix (build/doc-fixes.json: the bold sentence on the session type, broken where its line ended short, rejoined); proof 1 (whitespace-only) and proof 2 (same character multiset as the text layer minus chrome) pass. Review note: The form's number, title, “Mandatory” and edition (“Revised 7 22 22”) print in each page's footer, taken out as chrome. Rule 919(a) (carded with Chapter 9) requires the orientation before the session; this form sets 24 hours from the order.
1 verbatim mandatory provision from 13-16-s.
2 verbatim mandatory provisions from 15-41-s.
43 verbatim mandatory provisions from 07-33-s.