The child meets with a specially trained professional alongside the mediation process, whether individually and/or with their siblings. Consulting children means having a conversation with them, not asking them questions and extracting answers for the benefit of the adults.
The mediator’s role can be as a catalyst in facilitating better child-parent communication. It should not in any way be directive or controlling. Mediators can help reassure children that their feelings about what is happening in their family are normal, without the child feeling interrogated or put under pressure.
The mediator is not a counsellor or a decision maker. A study has found that, despite their initial uncertainty, almost all the children who met with a mediator spoke very positively about their experience and felt they had benefitted from the experience.
