Children’s Voices and Mediation
9 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2012 Last revised: 28 Sep 2013
Date Written: September 7, 2012
Abstract
When family mediation first came on the American scene in the early 1980s, proponents argued the process would benefit all family members, including children. Very little recent research on the law side has explored whether or not mediation is overall a positive development, though it is now required in a number of states in contested custody cases and is an alternative mechanism in the remainder. The research on advantages or disadvantages to children themselves is still scantier — most studies measure indirect effects. Very few studies from the United States (much less procedures) consider children’s perspectives directly. However, the good research (from a social science standpoint) indicates that children’s interests seem to be served in the mediation context in both expected and unexpected ways (though not in the minority of cases where the parents cannot focus on any interests but their own, or those in which there has been partner violence that should preclude mediation itself). Every study of this kind stresses that it cannot be generalized to larger populations, so more work clearly needs to be done, and perhaps the most valuable information comes from an Australian rather than a U.S. sample.
Keywords: mediation, children, child custody
JEL Classification: K39, K41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation