A MODEL FOR TELEPHONE MEDIATION |
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| Authors: | Laurie S. Coltri E. Joan Hunt |
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| Affiliation: | Laurie S. Coltri is a mediator and attorney. A former director of the pmgram described in this article, she currently holds adjunct faculty positions at the University of Maryland at College Park and the University of Maryland, University College. She has coauthored a book chapter and several articles in the areas of divorce, family, and custody mediation and har made presentations in these areas at local, national, and international conferences.;E. Joan Hunt is a retired member of the faculty of the Department of Human Development at the University of Maryland at College Park. She has coauthored articles and book chapters and made presentations at national conferences in the areas of divorce and family mediation and court-connected services. She is currently affiliated with Towson University, Maryland. |
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| Abstract: | A unique mediation service using the telephone to help parents resolve conflicts over visitation ("access") is described. The program presented special advantages of low cost and high responsiveness to parents and their children and was designed to particularly benefit families that lacked the mobility or financial resources to participate in traditional face-to-face mediation. Because the service featured highly educated and experienced mediators and a child-focused, principle-based mediation approach, family members received reframing, refocusing, informative, and empathic assistance in understanding and dealing with their parenting disputes. Some 700 families and nearly 900 mediation cases were handled during the service's 19 months of operation, and some features of the families and the cases are described. Recommendations and directions for future research are included. |
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