The Defining Ingredient: Transformative Mediation Ideology in Parenting Coordination Practice

Abstract:     
The ethics, appropriateness and efficacy of med/arb as a hybrid dispute resolution process remains a hotly debated topic among dispute resolution scholars and commentators. However, the import of incorporating a specific mediation ideology in any hybrid dispute resolution process such as med/arb has been conspicuously absent from this important discussion.

This chapter posits that the selection of mediation ideology in a hybrid dispute resolution process is a defining choice that shapes the quality of the entire dispute resolution process. Moreover, the selection or failure to make a selection about mediation ideology has philosophical, practice and political implications. As an illustration, the author discusses the ethical, design and practice issues that emerge when selecting a transformative mediation ideology as part of a parenting coordination practice, a med/arb dispute resolution for high conflict families. The author concludes by extrapolating considerations for designers and users of hybrid dispute resolution processes.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 19

Accepted Paper Series