Mediation In Family Disputes

Abstract

BEHIND the present enthusiasm for " conciliation " in family disputes it seems at first sight possible to identify a simple and attractive idea: that in many instances of family conflict it is desirable for the parties themselves to arrive at some kind of agreed solution, instead of presenting the matter to a judge for his decision.Beyond that it is difficult to isolate a consistent package of ideas associated with this movement.There is no clear agreement as to what is wrong with present institutions, or as to the arrangements which should ideally supplement or replace them.Sometimes, too, there is an uncertain " fit " between stated objective and proposed solution.'When the embryonic institutions of " conciliation " now beginning to operate are examined, considerable diversity is also observable.Perhaps all this should not be surprising, for when we look back to the Finer Report,2 which many see as the starting point of the movement towards " coilciliation " we find a large plea for a new disposition, a fresh general approach, rather than specific institutional prescription.Although the Family Court is carefully described, the processes contemplated under the head of" conciliation " remain hazy.Even the recent Inter-departmental Committee, explicitly required to report on " the nature " of existing agencies of conciliation, has almost nothing to say about structure or the implications of different institutional arrangements.Yet much of the present discussion takes for granted agreement about the nature of institutional forms that have never been worked out in detail, let alone submitted to serious evaluation.These uncertainties make it worth looking again at some of the ideas which underpin contemporary discussion of conciliation and reexamining the range of institutional forms which the various arguments appear to contemplate.At present it appears that mediation will become the dominant form of third party intervention associated with e.g.we repeatedly find the call for settlement of disputes by private negotiation coupled with a demand for a national conciliation service, orgaiiised and financed by government.See p. 555 below. Reporf of fhe Conrmittee on One-Parent Families, Cmnd. 5629 (1974). See the Report of the Infer-deparfmenfal Commitfee on Conclliafion, EMSO (for the some kind of Lord Chancellor's Department), 1983.There conciliation is defined as structured scheme or facility for promoting a settlement between parties."(p.2).

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