DIVORCE MEDIATION IN ISRAEL

Divorce mediation, as it has evolved in North America, is a relatively new development in Israel. The Israeli socio-legal and cultural context present several obstacles along the road to cooperative settlement of divorce conflicts. This article discusses the secular and religious dual court systems, the Jewish law requiring mutual agreement to divorce, and the impact of certain inequalities of the sexes. Mediation services in the public and private sectors are described.     

FAMILY MEDIATION IN EUROPE

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation Number (98) 1 titled Family Mediation in Europe on January 21, 1998, at the 616th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies. This recommendation focused on the use of mediation in resolving family disputes. After a brief introduction, this article reprints the recommendation. ¹     

EMPOWERING CHILDREN IN MEDIATION

The available research in the mediation arena regarding child custody disputes indicates a lack of and growing need for effective intervention techniques. The authors present practicing mediators with a specific intervention model for interviewing, safeguarding, and empowering children in the process of mediating custody disputes. The mediation model utilizes a structured, strategic, and process-oriented approach with a family systems theoretical orientation and may be used in private or court-connected settings. The model presented here goes beyond the child-centered interview norm to the inclusion of the child in the process to assist parents in decision making. The model supports the current California statute under Family Code Section 3023, which states that "if a child is of sufficient age and capacity to reason so as to form an intelligent preference as to custody, the court shall consider and give due weight to the wishes of the child in making an award of custody or modification." The model does, however, maintain the position that the final decision continues to lie with the parents or the courts and not the child.     

UNBUNDLING LEGAL SERVICES IN MEDIATION

The adversarial model for resolving family disputes is seriously flawed. The judicial system is inefficient and uneconomical. The vast majority of litigants cannot afford to have their cases handled by a lawyer, and, as a result, they end up representing themselves. However, divorcing spouses want and need legal services. They should not be forced to choose between full services and no services. As mediation moves toward acceptance as the preferred method for resolving family disputes, attorneys have an opportunity to offer a menu of legal services from which clients may order a la carte. This is the essence of unbundling. This article explores how unbundling enables mediation clients to obtain the legal services they request at an affordable cost and relieves consulting attorneys who perform discrete tasks of responsibility for the outcome of the case.     

MEDIATION IN CHILD PROTECTION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

The child protection mediation or case conference–implemented under the new Child, Family, and Community Services Act–is a mandatory conference in British Columbia that attempts to provide a plan of care for the apprehended child or children through a combined cooperative effort of parents, social workers, their respective counsel, parties that have an interest in the child's welfare, and the mediation judge. It is also a process that undertakes to counter the adversarial effects of trial where the potential for conflict is great and seeks to achieve the spirit of building solutions through cooperation for the continued care of the child. A year later, the results look encouraging, as two thirds of cases settle and, in British Columbia, unlike any other province, the case conference is made available in every community where court is held.     

WOMEN'S AND MEN'S VIEWS OF MEDIATION IN VOLUNTARY AND MANDATORY MEDIATION SETTINGS

This article reports findings regarding women in mediation from a combined group of 184 persons who received mediation services from the Alameda County Superior Court Family Court Services or the Northern California Mediation Center. This empirical study refutes many of the criticisms of mediation by some feminist critics of the process.     

CONFLICTING ROLES IN CHILD CUSTODY MEDIATION

This article will first discuss the conflict in the mediator's role as a neutral and impartial third party with no interest in the outcome and his or her role as guardian or advocate for the best interests of the child. That discussion will define terms, consider the legal standard for the best interests of the child as it is used by the courts, and lay out how the legal standard is problematic in general but even more so for mediators. Part 3 will discuss options for mediators attempting to resolve this conflict by looking at a continuum of alternatives, using examples of opening statements that illustrate positions ranging from extreme nonintervention to complete inte mention. An assessment follows each example.     

SAMSON AND DELILAH IN DIVORCE MEDIATION

Does divorce mediation pose special problems for women that it does not pose for men? This article argues that the metaphor of power imbalances that has been invoked to express this concern has not only caused those in the field to see husbands and wives in political terms, but also prevented them from seeing how women, as well as men, influence the outcome of the discussions that take place between them.     

SUPPORTING FAMILY STRENGTH: THE USE OF TRANSFORMATIVE MEDIATION IN A PINS MEDIATION CLINIC

This article describes, and explains the rationales for, the establishment of an innovative program in which a law school and two social services agencies are collaborating in a mediation clinic that uses the transformative model of mediation to serve clients in cases that seem ideally suited to benefit from this approach to practice—so-called "PINS" (persons in need of supervision) cases involving conflict within families, between parents and their adolescent children. The article first describes the evolution of the PINS system and the changing views of its purpose, especially in New York State. It then offers a brief introduction to the unique features of the transformative approach to mediation and explains why that approach in particular is likely to mesh with current understandings of the needs of the families involved in these cases. Finally, the article describes the innovative "Family Solutions Program" and how it uses transformative mediation to help these families and suggests that experience of this program shows how use of the transformative model, in particular, could be valuable not only for clinical education but also for effective volunteer training and supervision in mediation programs generally.     

MEDIATION IN THE FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA

The chief justice of the Australian Family Court discusses the use of mediation in the Family Court of Australia. He traces the legislative origin and the basic purposes of the service. Of particular interest is the differentiation between mediation, conciliation, and the court process. The limitations are also discussed, especially the use of mediation in domestic violence situations.     

ORIENTATION TO MEDIATION IN PORTLAND, OREGON

This article describes an orientation to mediation used in the Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, Oregon. The role of the judiciary makes this program unique, and the orientation has increased the number of agreements reached. This orientation helps parents make decisions about mediation and use the process more effectively.     

A FOCUS ON EMOTION IN MEDIATION TRAINING

Trainee mediators must learn to understand their own emotions and the emotional reactions of mediation participants to intervene effectively in conflict. Training techniques developed for family and divorce mediation may also apply to training for other types of conflict. Visualization and observation exercises developed a "meta-perspective" on the dynamics of conflict, which can help traines manage their own emotional reactions and think strategically at the same time. Responding to videotaped or role-played emotional reactions from participants can desensitize trainees to conflict. Directing trainees toward information available on the process of divorce or other prolonged conflict can help them respond with more empathy to participants. Attention paid to these emotional issues in mediation training may prevent mediator stress and burnout.     

MEDIATION IN CHILD PROTECTION AND THE NOVA SCOTIA EXPERIENCE

In recent years, mediation has become a device used to settle disputes in the area of child protection. The first legislatively based child protection mediation program in Canada was implemented in the province of Nova Scotia in 1993. This program has been criticized for not safeguarding children from neglect and abuse, for redundancy with respect to settlements offered by child protection workers, for its nonuse of child protection workers as mediators, and for power imbalances between negotiating parties. It has also suffered from a low number of referrals to mediation. The Nova Scotia experience emphasizes the need to gain support not only from child protection agency leadership but also from frontline staff to create a stable and beneficial mediation program. Even in light of the complications with respect to child protection mediation in Nova Scotia, there is a growing interest and implementation of mediation programs throughout Canada.