Pre-Mediation Information Gathering and Client Intake
Unit 3 Assignment: Pre-Mediation Information Gathering and Client Intake
Latanisha Sawyer
Kaplan University
PA415: Family Law and Divorce Mediation
Prof: Ally Howell
09/09/2012
Pre-mediation Questions: 1. What mutual concerns do David and Angela have? What are their individual concerns?
A mutual concern of David and Angela is that they both have lost ambition and this in turn has placed a strain on their marriage. Angela feels as though David has become increasingly distant in their relationship and has accused David of committing adultery. David at the beginning of the relationship was outgoing, but that has since changed placing strain on the relationship. David
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Angela and David both have children, so it is imperative that as a mediator I help the couple to establish a parenting plan. Prior to doing this I would assist both David and Angela narrow the issues and because divorce can hinder the ability of effective communication amongst the couple, I would reframe the communication between the two, so that the real issues are being addressed and the message will be better understood.
3. What problems currently impede a divorce settlement between David and Angela?
A problem that impedes the divorce settlement between David and Angela is that Angela suspects David is having an affair. David and Angela both equally feel as though they have lost ambition within their present careers. Angela is unhappy with her career and would like to take another career path. It seems as though they have not discussed what has led them to not trying or having the ambition they once had before. Another issue is that David at the beginning of the relationship was very outgoing, but now has become distant and these are all issues that can be impeding to the divorce settlement if they are not discussed and communicated in a constructive manner. 4. What problems must be resolved in order to promote cooperative parenting for their children?
In order to promote cooperative parenting the issues of divorce and family separation will need to be addressed. David
Amy starts to act more like a woman and David finds himself attracted to her, he finds her touch to be electric. However, they start to meet less and less and David “spent more time on his art, alone”. Amy would not see his paintings anymore nor would she play dress up games, she becomes more conscious about her weight and her looks. Consequently, David feels like Amy is maturing and has outgrown her phase of childish behavior. David again is alone with nothing more than a “few acquaintances good enough to talk to”.
The City Attorney hired a mediator to mediate issues regarding a foster child. The parties are Helen and Jeffrey, the biological parents, and Bianca and Jorge, the foster parents. Before mediation begins, the attorney calls the parents and foster parents separately to schedule the mediation and prepare them for the case. During the telephone call, the attorney told Helen and Jeffrey that they have only two choices: voluntarily relinquish their parental rights or have the courts do it for them. Furthermore, he told them that it is better for them to give up their parental rights voluntarily because he knows the judge will terminate their rights in court.
5. Why is it critical for a parent to be involved in their children’s education?
Jane and jack were not happy with their marriage and decided to get divorce. They decided to share legal and physical custody of their three kids which they think is the best for kids. “After a recent meta-analytic of thirty-three studies of custody, one researcher reported that children in joint physical or joint legal custody were better adjusted than children in sole custody” (C&B 201). Joint custody gives kids change to see the both parents and it also gives both parents chance to be involved with their kids’ lives. Both Jane and Jake knew “continued conflict between parents is one of the causes in children’s divorce problems” and they wanted their kids to adjust the divorce quickly and to do that they knew they had to be cooperative and get along well.
Children and young people may find themselves going through a parental divorce or be part of a single parent family or they may have become part of a step family. They may
1) You are in the midst of the first interview with Mr. K., a recently divorced 55-year-old man. You have introduced yourself and have addressed the other aspects of the beginning phase of practice. You are now ready for an initial exploratory question. At this point, you know only that Mr. K.’s concern relates in some way to the divorce. Therefore, you want to encourage him to explore that topic in depth. Write the words you would say in asking this first question. Once written, specify whether the question is open- or closed-ended. Outline your rationale for choosing this particular question and anticipate how Mr. K. might respond.
In the last two decades divorce has increased substantially leaving couples single and families broken. Divorce is the reality for many families as there is an increase in divorce rates, cohabitation rates, and the number of children raised in step and single marital families. Divorce cannot be overlooked as it negatively affects and impacts youngsters for the rest of their lives. Although it is the decision between two parents’s children are hurt the most in the process. The concept of divorce is extremely difficult for children to understand as there are many unanswered questions and uncertainties. “Will my mom or dad remarry and who will I live with?” are concerns children express while going through divorce. Many
The debate of a child’s involvement in divorce and child custody mediation is one that involves “family empowerment” and comes at a time when children “experience considerable modifications in the construction of their family unit.” It is then at the mediator and the family’s discretion the degree to which children are involved in the process. It is the mediator’s role to ensure both parents have their input on this decision.
"shared parenting" is a controversial topic in family law. It generally refers to the presumption that children of divorced or separated parents should spend an equal (or almost equal) amount of time with each parent. The concept has largely been promoted by fathers' organisations that contend that a child's life is enhanced if both parents continue to be significantly involved in the child's life following separation or divorce.
Mediating and advocating for clients is an essential service provided by human service workers, but not everyone is cut out for the job; it takes encouraging, knowledgeable, and non-judgmental individuals to maintain the integrity of both the mediation and advocating processes. While an advocate is most likely found standing up for a specific group or a particular issue, a mediator helps assist two or more parties in resolving a conflict without expressing any favoritism. In order for a mediator to maintain unbiased and preserve the reliability of the mediation process, they must seek out an agency that provides services that correlate with their own belief system; otherwise they will have to check their own set of values and beliefs at the door which can be incredibly difficult, and in some cases – impossible.
Second, Single parents should avoid blindly exclude each other. Many divorced couples not allowed to their child to contact other side, and some even find a place to move to avoid any meeting opportunity, so that children cannot see his father or mother. Some of them are conscious derogatory treat the other side uselessness, and instilling hostility to the child. Children will psychologically form a sense of exclusion. This may be an important reason the character of children from single-family deviated from the normal track.
Divorce is becoming all too popular in our society today. When a couple experience tough times or have one too many arguments, they automatically think divorce. Despite its prevalence couples are not prepared for it’s long, drawn out, hurtful process. Divorce does not only hurt the individuals involved, it also affects the children tremendously. While many people don’t think divorce is a bad thing. Hollywood makes divorce look cool and uneventful. When in all reality, it is disruptive. Some people would say that divorce is a lazy way out of a marriage; the cowardly thing to do when a situation presents itself. Divorce is not the only answer to marital problems, in most cases.
Conclusion- Give my opinions about which cause and effect is the most serious. Repeating the thesis statement along with all the parenting methods in summary.
The practice of settling human conflicts through intermediaries has had a rich history in Western and non-Western cultures and therefore a broad range of forms and functions. The conflicting parties in most of the societies and at all stages of social interaction have had access to external actors to whom they approach when they come to the conclusion that they are incapable to handle their different opinions by themselves. In this case, an ordinary response to identify contradictions in objectives and values be-tween adversaries is to enter into a process of negotiation in order to achieve an agreement on such differences, which is mutually acceptable. In consequence, negoti-ation seems to be a universal, human
Each and every day a child somewhere in the world is experiencing major changes within their family. One of those major changes is divorce or separation of parents. Divorce is “the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage”(Webster, 2011 p1). Today’s reality shows that couples only have one in two odds of remaining together. “ The U.S. Census bureau – involved in research about counseling children of divorce- estimating that approximately 50% of all American children born in 1982 lived in a single-parent homes sometime during their first 18 years. Mostly are due to divorce”(Children of Divorce, 2008 p.1). The rapid increase in divorce rates is a factor that has contributed to the large decline of the typical family. “Over 1