Colorado court administrators suspended parental evaluator Stephanie Norris from accepting court appointments after finding Norris failed to acknowledge an issue was beyond her competency when a judge appointed her to make custody recommendations in a contentious Moffat County case.

The Colorado State Court Administrator’s Office also issued four written warnings against Norris in response to complaints filed against her work in four separate and distinct custody disputes. Norris can apply to be restored to the roster of parental evaluators if she completes 10 hours of domestic violence training, according to details released by the court administrator’s office.

Colorado parental evaluator faces scrutiny over handling of high-conflict custody cases

Norris – licensed by the state as a professional counselor, an addiction counselor and a candidate for licensure as a psychologist — and her lawyer, Kari Hershey, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Norris, who has an office in Centennial with about 15 employees, was the previous subject of an April investigative report by The Gazette, probing controversies regarding her court-appointed evaluation work. Mothers who filed the complaints expressed dismay that court administrators did not permanently bar Norris from the roster of parental evaluators.

“Evaluators are entrusted by families to make full, complete and unbiased recommendations to support the best interest of children, and safety should be paramount,” said Stephanie Montgomery, the Moffat County mother who filed the complaint that led to Norris’ suspension, in a prepared statement.

“While the SCAO’s decision validates Norris’ lack of care and understanding of these basic components, the sanction of 10 hours of domestic violence education and a written warning falls short of addressing the egregious acts of demanding violations of permanent protection orders as well as the emotional, psychological, financial and potentially physical harm caused by Ms. Norris.”

State regulators in 2019 previously admonished Norris as part of a settlement and required her to take continuing legal education in high conflict divorce and ethics after a previous complaint from another parent. To resolve that complaint, Norris admitted she filed custody recommendations in a custody dispute for children undergoing therapy with her when another therapist was the one court-appointed to make custody recommendations, according to a stipulation Norris signed.

Norris is the latest parental responsibility evaluator to generate controversy. Following disclosures in The Gazette, state law makers required new training for evaluators and additional oversight over their work from court administrative officials.

Lawmakers acted after The Gazette reported on dozens of cases involving parental evaluators marred by incompetence, bias and shoddy work that at times put children in deadly peril. One former evaluator, Shannon McShane, pleaded guilty to lying about her credentials to judges and then retaliating against a parent who exposed her lies to court administrative officials, regulators and a judge. A Denver judge sentenced her to four years in prison

Colorado parental evaluator accused of falsifying credentials sent child custody cases into turmoil despite magistrate’s warning (copy)

Montgomery, the Moffat County mother, said the lack of a stiffer sanction from the State Court Administrator’s Office, reveals ongoing “overarching problems with Colorado’s parental evaluation system.”

The Colorado Court Administrator’s Office did not release the exact details of its investigative findings against Norris, in accordance with long-standing secrecy rules.

Transcripts and court documents filed in connection with Norris’ court-appointed work on custody cases shed more light on the complaints and investigation by the court administrator’s office, however.

The suspension was tied to Norris’ work in a Moffat County custody dispute in which a judge appointed Norris to evaluate allegations of substance abuse involving the father as well as domestic violence allegations and mental health issues. District Court Judge Brittany Schneider terminated Norris’ court appointment in that case, and Norris never completed her report.

Montgomery, the mother in that case, filed a complaint against Norris with the court administrator’s office, citing a finding by the judge that Norris acted beyond her competency when she told the mother to schedule a home visit with her ex and their two children. The home visit was barred because two permanent protection orders had been issued preventing her ex from having any contact whatsoever with her or their children, the mother had claimed.

The judge found that Norris had not informed the parties on the custody dispute “when this issue was outside of her training her experience, though she gave testimony at the hearing that indicated to the court that she was unsure whether the parties could make an agreement that supersedes a permanent protection order.”

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“At no point did she seek clarification on this issue,” the judge added.

The judge and the State Court Administrator’s Office also found that Norris did not develop written policies for counsel despite professional standards for parental evaluators requiring her to do so.

One protection order had been issued after the father pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of felony domestic violence menacing with a weapon, prompting another judge to sentence him to three years of probation.

Another protection order was granted after the mother of the children requested one, stating in one court filing that her ex had attempted to head butt her three times, grabbed a handgun from a dresser and threatened to kill her in front of his oldest son and his stepson, then aged 14 and 13.

“It felt threatening that the protection order that was in place could be, in essence, disregarded,” the mother testified during a hearing that resulted in the termination of Norris’ court appointment.

At least three mothers involved in other child custody disputes also had filed complaints against Norris, accusing her of bias against them. The Court Administrator’s Office determined Norris had violated professional standards for parental evaluators in those cases, without detailing how she had done so. The court administrators issued written warnings against Norris for the violations sustained in those cases.