Family Mediation on the Other Side of the World
At the beginning of this month, New Zealand took a big step towards transforming its family justice system. In order to move away from the status quo, where court actions are the default method of addressing family disputes, the government has introduced a dispute resolution service that will enable people in non-urgent, non-violent cases to access mediation instead of going before a judge.
This type of institutional change is encouraging for those of us who hope to see the day when processes such as mediation which are currently characterized as “alternative dispute resolution” become the norm rather than the exception!
For more on the changes, including an article and a radio clip, visit the Radio New Zealand site here. You can also read more about the initiative on the New Zealand Ministry of Justice site here.