LESSONS LEARNED FROM A CHILD PROTECTION MEDIATION PROGRAM: If At First You Succeed and Then You Don't… |
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| Authors: | Kelly Browe Olson |
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| Institution: | The author is Director of Clinical Programs and an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (U.A.L.R) Bowen School of Law. She supervises and mediates abuse, neglect, delinquency, special education, custody and visiation, and small claims mediations. She also teaches alternative dispute resolution, family law, and a domestic violence seminar. She has previously lectured in children and the law, elder law and arbitration, and civil procedure classes, as well as at numerous conferences. Her projects have included training law and graduate students in litigation and mediation skills, developing the U.A.L.R. Graduate Certificate in Conflict Mediation Program, coordinating a grandparents raising grandchildren project, and training mediators for the Arkansas Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission and the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago. She earned her B.A. at Marquette University, a J.D. at the University of Michigan, and her LL.M. in ChildLaw from Loyola Chicago School of Law. |
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| Abstract: | This article discusses the U.A.L.R. child protection mediation program as well as several other child protection mediation programs in order to examine what makes a program a continuing success. Child protection mediation programs have gone through a period of tremendous progress and growth over the past 20 years in the United States and Canada. Numerous studies have shown that child protection mediation helps families and courts by lowering the amount of time that children spend in foster care and the amount of costs for courts and agencies. Child protection mediation is an essential tool for juvenile courts and the families that have cases there. This article addresses the development of child protection mediation programs, their importance to juvenile courts, and some reasons that these programs succeed or fail. Although many of these programs have early accomplishments, they have not always been able to maintain their growth or to continue to exist. The U.A.L.R. Mediation Project has not sustained its early levels of cases or referrals from court for numerous reasons. Using the techniques of other thriving programs, we will attempt to restart and re-energize the program. It has been established that the people who have a role in the establishment of a program, the funding sources and especially the commitment of the parties to the program all have a significant long-term impact. This article points out how programs should begin and proceed if they are to be a long-term success. |
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| Keywords: | child protection mediation mediation clinic child welfare law students evaluation |
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