Child Centered Mediation

Child Centered mediation is relatively new to the area and involves bringing the child’s voice into a divorce mediation process. This can be done in a number of ways. The most common and least expensive is to have a child specialist interview the kids and submit a written report to the parties and neutral for use in the mediation. More involved is having the specialist come to the mediation briefly and report his or her opinion on what is best for the child in the divorce and answer questions.  Th most expensive approach, the “Cadillac” of child centered mediation is to have the specialist present throughout the mediation advocating for the child using the information gathered in the interview. Child specialists could be psychologists, counselors and social workers. Theoretically, the advocate could be any adult who knows the child and understand the child’s wishes sand best interests. Most often thew child specialist is a professional who may charge $100-200 per hour. Hence, having an advocate for the child throughout the mediation could effectively double the cost. Still it is a useful approach especially when a son or daughter’s viewpoint has been overlooked or if information from the child might be difficult for one or both parents to hear.