Family Mediation

Family Mediation Hawaii

"Children who are exposed to more intense conflict between parents are more likely to suffer harm resulting from their parents' divorce. The lower the level of conflict between parents, the more likely those children will emerge emotionally whole."


Andrew I. Schepard, Children, Courts, and Custody: Interdisciplinary Models for Divorcing Families. New York: Cambridge University Press (2004). p. 31.



For families struggling with a divorce or separation transition, mediation provides many benefits compared to traditional litigation. In addition to being less costly and stressful, mediation can help parents shift from competitive to cooperative parenting. Children are often the unseen, unrepresented, and most at-risk persons in family cases and it is critical that their best interests be the foundation of any co-parenting agreement.  Parents who have already separated or divorced may also find themselves at odds over decision-making, timesharing or support of their children and may also engage in mediation in order to reach mutually agreed upon, enforceable resolutions.

"One of the most important aspects of the family environment for children whose parents are divorcing is the level of parental fighting. In fact, parental fighting is actually a better forecaster of children's function after the divorce than the changes in the parents' marital status . . . and the children's subsequent separation from a parent."


E. Mark Cummings and Patrick Davies, Children and Marital Conflict: The Impact of Family Dispute and Resolution. New York: The Guilford Press (1994), p. 9.


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