In cases where custody of a minor cannot be agreed upon by both parties, the court will usually defer judgment on custody issues and refer both parties to a Child Custody Recommending Counselor. In some instances, the court will provide and ask both parties to complete a form to make an appointment, or the court may order both parties to make an appointment before the next hearing. Information on how to make an appointment can be found here.


Be Advised:

DwD has witnessed many parties to a case get slammed in court by not attending a Child Custody Recommending Counselor (CCRC) appointment they didn't know they had or that had been rescheduled without their knowledge. Be proactive about your appointment by following the guidelines outlined in How do I make an appointment to see a Child Custody Recommending Counselor?. The court will view your failure to appear as your fault, negligence, and as if your child's custody is not important to you. Request an appointment far in advance in writing, confirm the appointment before hand, and go to your appointment as scheduled.


Now that you have made your appointment it is time to prepare. 

The CCRCs are of low caliber, unprofessional, and more often than not produce poor reports with inaccurate information. They are not on your side and perform their job poorly. You can expect one or more of the following during your session:

  • Being talked to in a disrespectful or disdainful manner
  • Being commanded to do or not do certain things
  • Being preached to about religion
  • Being told that your CCRC isn't there to know or understand the truth
  • Being threatened that you will be reported to Child Protective Services or that your child will be placed in foster care if you cannot work things out with your STBE
  • That threatening circumstances are not taken seriously
  • Receive a report that has misinformation and/or portrays you negatively or strongly favors one parent
  • Receive a report that contains another case's information (cut and pasted from a different case; unrelated to your case)
  • Receive a report with the wrong case number or referencing people that are not involved in your case
  • More unfathomable items when you have been ordered to see a "professional".

Outside of your session, the CCRC may:

  • Meet with your child with your STBE without your consent or knowledge
  • Speak with other parties involved, or not involved, in your case without your knowledge (court appointed attorney, child's school, psychologist, etc)


There is very limited information on this subject online. A glimpse of publicly reported experiences can be found on Yelp here.


The experience

You will arrive at 224 W. Winton Ave, Suite 208 Hayward, CA 94544 and look around the dingy waiting room and approach the window where there is no one to assist you. A clipboard will be sticking out from under the window for you to sign in.

After signing in, you will wait to be called (usually 10 - 15 minutes after your scheduled appointment time) by your CCRC.

They will introduce themselves and appear friendly while they lead you to a room.

The format will vary wildly, even in different sessions with the same mediator. You may be asked to talk about why you are there, the mediator may have an agenda they want to follow, or the mediator may ask you specific questions about your case. 

When you are done they will show you out. You may feel that the session went well, you may feel that it went horribly. Try to reserve judgment about the session and CCRC until you see the report.


Information on how to prepare and conduct yourself during a CCRC session can be found here. [coming soon]

Information on what to do after you have received your CCRC report can be found here. [coming soon]