Archive Website of the UK government

• Download the Windows Media version (WMV, 12792K)

Relationship breakdown: family mediation

Find out more about how family mediation works, how it can help you, and how to find mediation services.

Text version

Narrator

Every year thousands of families face the challenge of separation and divorce. But despite the pain and trauma, one thing everyone agrees on is that it’s not our children’s fault. Children shouldn’t suffer as a result of their parents’ separation and this is central to family mediation.

Kelly

“Well, when my mum and dad first split up they weren’t talking to each other, they were always shouting and they couldn’t sort anything out - but this is going to be great because my dad’s coming to my party so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Sally – Kelly’s mother

“Mediation has helped us communicate again which is really important for Kelly. It’s her birthday tomorrow and she’s really looking forward to her dad being able to spend it with her.”

Narrator

This is Jeff, Kelly's father

Jeff

“We’d been living together for so long there was all sorts of things, being tied up together between you. There’s all kinds of, er these little loose ends which they don’t seem important when you’re going through all the big emotional stuff, those are just the kind of things that trip you up later on.”

Sally

“When everything was going fine with the relationship, well you don’t think ahead, I mean being a pensioner it just seems so far away, but Jeff had been paying into a pension for 15 years and I had no pension provision, so I had absolutely no chance of making it up however hard I worked.”

Jeff

“With the help of the mediator we were able to look a bit more carefully at it really I suppose, on both sides, and basically we came to a more equitable arrangement whereby my wife got a bit more equity in the house, and that just seemed fairer all round.”

Useful contacts

• Parents contacts