Whenever a couple is going through a divorce, it is worth considering the use of mediation to help reach a fair compromise in a divorce settlement. This is true for many kinds of couples, regardless of what kind of marriage is ending or the elements that are being negotiated. However, one group stands apart as being able to benefit the most from successful divorce mediation — couples with children, and more specifically, the children themselves.
Divorce can be terribly hurtful for children and leave them with emotional scars that may affect their choices and relationships for the rest of their lives. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Many experts recognize that children who receive proper support from both parents throughout a divorce process and afterwards are often able to grow through the experience very healthfully.
With divorce mediation, children are able to see you and your spouse working together as responsible adults to put them first and can form healthy models for how to deal with conflict, even very personal conflict. Furthermore, healthy mediation allows many children to avoid feelings of guilt over a divorce, because they are shown that caring for them remains a top priority for both parents. For parents who care about putting their children first in a divorce, mediation is one of the very best options for everyone.
Mediation allows you to retain almost all of the autonomy that a couple would have if they were simply self-determining their divorce settlement, but with the benefit of a neutral party to help negotiate through some of the trickier elements of planning out a life that is separate, but still indelibly tied to each other as parents. If you are ready to take control of your divorce for the good of your family, an experienced mediation attorney can help you take the right steps and guide you through the process.
Source: Free Press Online, “Kids and Families First: Choosing Divorce Mediation,” Judith Hatch Orme, Nov. 30, 2016
