A charity has called on separating or divorcing parents to ensure that the needs of their children are always put first.
"You could more than fill Wembley Stadium with the number of under 16s in our country affected by divorce,” said Jane Robey, Chief Executive of National Family Mediation. “And divorce can deteriorate into a destructive, competitive and litigious contest."
“In this toxic atmosphere, children are stranded between two warring parents, neither of whom are focusing on the welfare and future of themselves or their children. Handled badly the repercussions of the separation can go on for years and cross generations."
The charity has highlighted the benefits of mediation in separation and divorce situations, as it can allow disputes to be settled in a less confrontational way and support parents to develop co-operative parenting arrangements.
“Mediation helps families resolve conflict, set-up arrangements for future parenting and reach agreement on all practical and financial issues surrounding separation, divorce or dissolution of civil partnership,” explained Jane Robey.
“The advantages of mediation are that agreements reached, and our mediators achieve agreement in 83.5% of cases, are owned by the participants, are reached by consensus and are not imposed unlike court orders or solicitor negotiation. There is buy-in from all concerned,” she added.
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