Mediation Strategies in the Face of Custody Conflicts

Systematic analyses of initiatives and responses from mediators working with parents in intense conflicts about child custody and care brought forward variations in effective strategies. The findings are presented along six dimensions: The topics that were addressed, how the agenda for the sessions was decided, focus on agreement vs relational topics, oral vs written orientation, limited vs generous time, and parental vs system focus. Effective mediators handled these dimensions with flexibility, recognized and validated both parents' perspectives, accepted and explored differences, differentiated topics, focused on relational issues when needed, tracked the process by written summaries, and encouraged testing solutions.