Family Mediation Week 2024
It’s been a long time since I’ve added to this blog – it’s been a very busy couple of years. It’s a new year and what better time to relaunch my blog articles than in Family Mediation Week.
During Family Mediation Week there are a lot of people raising awareness of family mediation. These events are national and local. The national events are coordinated by the Family Mediation Council and this link takes you to the events which are available to the public :
https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk/fmw/family-mediation-week-events-for-the-public/
There are further events for those professionals working with separated families, a list of which can be found here to sign up for :
Finally, on a national front there are also events for mediators. Locally, mediators are promoted their own information about Family Mediation and are holding in person events to celebrate all things Family Mediation related.
In our society, if a relationship breaks down, there is still an overriding belief that going to court and solicitors is the normal route to deal with matters. In many other countries, the starting place for professional help is mediation rather than lawyers. Senior Family Judges are clearly stating that they don’t want to see the cases they do in the court system and that our adversarial court system is not the best way to resolve most matters on the breakdown of a relationship. There are still some families that do need to use the court system but they should be the exception rather than the rule. There are so many alternative ways to resolve matters in a less challenging (and less expensive) way than going to court. All mediations start with an individual meeting with each party where the mediator will talk through the different options available and help you identify the best way forward for your family.
Tom, in this video, is 14 years old and sets out how Child Inclusive Mediation helped him and his parents :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLI9k_fG9wI
For families who are separating, family mediation can often be the best option. It provides a way forward for the entire family.
