What is it?
A means-tested family mediation pilot scheme has been run by ARC Mediation in collaboration with academic researchers in Waterford Institute of Technology. The project was self-financing in the sense that neither ARC nor WIT sought state funding.
The original project spanned 4 phases and operated from the summer of 2013 to the summer of 2017. The project provided family mediation only, and was limited to discussion of parenting issues such as access & parenting plans where one or both parties are using legal aid or are lay litigants. The project didn’t address the mediation of Deeds of Separation or consent terms for divorce.
Anonymised research data from the pilot was used, with the participants consent, to refine the mediation process in terms of efficacy, cost and time. Research findings from the project were presented at international conferences including AFCC’s Annual Conference and the Interational Conference on Shared Parenting.
As of June 2018, Phase 5 of the project has commenced in association with Dublin Community Mediation. Mediations are now exclusively being offered in 4 Family Resource Centres in South Dublin.
All enquiries about the Family Mediation Project should be made to coordinator Roisin O’Shea at 051 348336.