Dear Family Court Counselor Candidate

December 28, 2012

Dear Family Court Counselor Candidate:

Thank you for your interest in the Family Court Counselor recruitment with Dane County.

The enclosed achievement history questionnaire is intended to give you the opportunity to describe your specific education, training and experience that would be relevant to this position.

The examination procedures will be as follows:

1)All competitors will be required to respond to the questions and return the answers to our office (typewritten responses are encouraged). Please be specific and factual in the information you provide. Limited to two pages per question.

2)An impartial review panel who know the requirements of this position will be convened to evaluate and grade all responses to the questions. The panel will not have access to your application, resume, or any other materials you provide. Be sure to include all relevant information (education, training, experience, etc.) in each response as graders will grade each response question individually and will not refer to information which may have been provided in a different response. If you do not provide this necessary information, it may impact your final score.

3)Those applicants receiving the highest exam scores will be invited to participate further in the process.

It is our belief that by providing competitors with written guidelines for describing their training and experience related to the demands of this position, we can obtain a better assessment of each applicant’s relevant qualifications.

If you wish us to consider your application further, your answers to the enclosed questions and signed certificate must be returned with a completed employment application form. Please return your materials to the Employee Relations Division, Room 418 City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Madison, WI 53703, by 4:30 p.m., Friday, January 18, 2013, along with the application form. Sorry, late application materials will not be accepted.

JEAN FILLNER – HUMAN RESOURCES ANALYST

DANE COUNTY

FAMILY COURT COUNSELOR

FAMILY COURT COUNSELING SERVICE

ACHIEVEMENT HISTORY QUESTIONNAIRE

Instructions: Please answer the attached five questions in a concise and well-organized manner attaching your answers to this page. For your answers to be considered, you must also sign the certificate provided below. Please put the last four digits of your Social Security Number on each of the pages containing your answers. Your name should NOT appear on the pages containing your answers.In your answers, provide only specific relevant responses including any information that may duplicate what you provided with your application for this position. Please include in all responses specific information regarding employers, schools, dates, credits earned, duties, course content and extent of involvement. Responses should be limited to two pages per question. Any additional pages will be disregarded. PLEASE NOTE: Graders will not have access to your application materials.Since being able to communicate effectively in writing is a very important element of the Assistant Veterans Service Officer position, your writing ability will also be evaluated. Typewritten responses are suggested.

CERTIFICATE

I certify that I prepared my responses without assistance other than typing. (If you are successful in reaching the employment selection interview stage, you will be asked background questions regarding one or more of your responses to this examination.) I further certify that to the best of my knowledge, the experience and/or training I specified in my attached responses are true and correct, and can be independently verified. I understand that any falsification of this certificate can be grounds for removal from the eligibles list or discharge from County Service.

DANE COUNTY

FAMILY COURT COUNSELING SERVICE

FAMILY COURT COUNSELOR

ACHIEVEMENT HISTORY QUESTIONNAIRE

Question One

Please describe how your formal education and training (workshops, seminars, inservice training, etc.) has prepared you to perform the duties and responsibilities of a Family Court Counselor as described in the class specification. Please be specific as to types of degrees, certifications, licenses, dates conferred, specific course work, inservice training, institutes attended as well as any other pertinent identifying information. Also describe educational/training achievements you have attained including grades, grade point average, awards, etc.

Question Two

Please describe any experience, education and/or training you have had with ethnic minority individuals including children, adolescents, and their families. Be specific as to the nature of the experience or training (i.e., type of work, your role, volunteer or paid, starting and ending dates, etc.).

Question Three

Please describe your professional experience with divorce, post-divorce, and paternity families. Relate your professional experience to family dispute resolution including any experience in mediation and custody or physical placement evaluations. Provide specific identifying information including job title, primary job content or role, beginning and ending dates, employer names, etc.

Question Four

Describe how you would conduct the statutorily prescribed mediation session with this family including who would be in the session and how you would proceed. Include the procedure or steps you would take and an outline of the process you would use for this session.

Instruction:The following hypothetical case situations present typical situations that we deal with at Family Court Counseling Service. The first example is to be considered a mediation case, the second an evaluation case. Please respond to the question following each case. Limit your response to each question to two 8 1/2" x 11" double-spaced pages.

MEDIATION CASE EXAMPLE:

Both parents are in their late thirties. The father is an electrical engineer with a Madison company, usually works long days Monday through Friday, and infrequently on the weekends. He earned $76,000 (gross) in 2005. He is currently living in a twobedroom apartment near the "family home" and does not want to be divorced.

The mother works parttime at a bank (20 hours a week), working some Saturdays. Mom grossed $16,000 in 2005. She has recently returned to Madison Area Technical College to update her marketable skills and will graduate in May 2006. She lives in the "family home."

The parents have two children, a daughter aged 12 and a son aged 10. Since the parental separation the parents have been unable to work out a physical placement schedule and there is much conflict around this issue.

The daughter is academically doing B work and very close to her mother. The mother reports the daughter prefers to spend little time with the father and certainly not overnights.

The son has been diagnosed ADHD as the result of an MTeam evaluation at his school last year. He doesn't particularly like school, preferring to play with his friends. He is very attached to his father with whom he enjoys playing sports and watching sporting events. The son is angry that his mother started the divorce and prefers to spend more time with Dad than Mom.

Both parents report concerns over the other's excessive alcohol consumption. They have agreed upon joint legal custody but mom wants primary physical placement of both children and Dad wants a 5050 timesharing arrangement.

Question Five

The family is referred to you for the purpose of conducting a custody and physical placement evaluation. Describe the procedure or steps and the process you would employ for your evaluation. Outline your concerns and the issues to be considered in your first meeting with this family. (Another counselor would have conducted the failed mediation session, but you would have the information as outlined above in the hypothetical case situation before you met with them.)

EVALUATION CASE EXAMPLE:

Mediation has been tried and the parents have been unable to reach an agreement. The mediator has returned the file to the Family Court Counseling Service director to reassign the case to another counselor for an evaluation to be conducted.

The parents have lived together for two years, not married and have a 13month old daughter. The father initiated the separation and is living with another woman. The father, age 30, has been employed as a city bus driver for the past 5 years, working various shifts with rotating days off.

The mother is 27, very angry with the father and blames the "other woman" for the separation. She works fulltime day hours as a lab technician, Monday through Friday.

The child is primarily in Mom's care at this time. Mom wants sole legal custody and primary placement. She wants the father to have little, if any, contact with their daughter. She strongly disapproves of Dad's lifestyle alleging he uses cocaine and associates with other users and drug dealers. He wants joint legal custody, substantial time with the child and denies he uses cocaine.

An attorney represents each parent and a guardian ad litem has just been appointed to represent the child's interests.