Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T22:42:48.461Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Dispute Resolution for the Enduring Family

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2011

Patrick Parkinson
Patrick Parkinson
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
Get access

Summary

In the new conceptualization of postdivorce parenting, the family does not go through a death so much as a metamorphosis from a nuclear household to become a family in two locations, with new relationships extending the range of adults and children associated with that family. If the family is understood to be enduring in spite of the breakdown of the parents' relationship, then the improvement of the relationship between parents so that they will be more likely to cooperate into the future emerges as an important goal of services to support families following separation.

What does that mean for dispute resolution? Around the western world, there has been a shift in thinking about the role of dispute resolution in promoting enduring family relationships, but dispute resolution still tends to occur, in many countries, within a context of case management of disputes by courts.

MEDIATION AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO LITIGATION

Alternative dispute resolution processes, notably mediation, have long played a role as an alternative to litigation in family law disputes. In many jurisdictions, it is a requirement before a case can proceed to trial. These dispute resolution strategies emerged as alternatives to lawyer-led negotiation and adjudication in the event that settlement negotiations failed.

The development of alternative dispute resolution as part of the process of resolving cases through the courts was the beginning of a recognition that disputes about parenting after separation should not be regarded as merely a legal problem requiring the interventions of lawyers and courts for its resolution.

Type
Chapter
Information
Family Law and the Indissolubility of Parenthood , pp. 183 - 196
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

McIsaac, Hugh & Finn, Charlotte, Parents Beyond Conflict: A Cognitive Restructuring Model for High-Conflict Families in Divorce, 37 Fam. & Concil. Cts Rev. 74 (1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Homrich, Alicia, Glover, Michelle Muenzenmayer, & White, Alice Blackwell, The Court Care Center for Divorcing Families, 42 Fam. Ct. Rev. 141 (2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruk, Edward, The Disengaged Noncustodial Father: Implications for Social Work Practice with the Divorced Family, 39 Soc. Work15, 22 (1994)Google Scholar
Ahrons, Constance, Divorce: Before, During and After, in Stress and the Family, Vol 1, Coping with Normative Transitions102, 114 (McCubbin, Hamilton & Figley, Charles eds., 1983)Google Scholar
Singer, Jana, Dispute Resolution and the Postdivorce Family: Implications of a Paradigm Shift, 47 Fam. Ct. Rev. 363, 363–65 (2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, Jessica, A Forum for Every Fuss: The Growth of Court Services and ADR Treatments for Family Law Cases in the United States, inCross Currents: Family Law and Policy in the US and England513 (Katz, Sanford, Eekelaar, John, & Maclean, Mavis eds., 2000)Google Scholar
Bozzomo, James & Scolieri, Gregory, A Survey of Unified Family Courts: An Assessment of Different Jurisdictional Models, 42 Fam. Ct. Rev. 12 (2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boldt, Richard & Singer, Jana, Juristocracy in the Trenches: Problem-Solving Judges and Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Drug Treatment Courts and Unified Family Courts, 65 Maryland L. Rev. 82 (2006)Google Scholar
Parkinson, Patrick, Keeping in Contact: The Role of Family Relationship Centers in Australia, 18 Child & Fam. L. Q. 157 (2006)Google Scholar
Parkinson, Patrick, Changing Policies Regarding Separated Fathers in Australia, inThe Role of the Father in Child Development518 (5th ed., Lamb, Michael ed., 2010)Google Scholar
Dimopoulos, Georgina, Gateways, Gatekeepers or Guiding Hands? The Relationship Between Family Relationship Centres and Legal Practitioners in Case Management and the Court Process, 24 Australian J. Fam. L. 176 (2010)Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×