Page 20 - Meeting with Children Book

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argue that all children over 5 years of age, whose
parents are involved in non-court based
processes, should be offered an opportunity to
meet with a Child Consultant; as an opportunity
to share their experience of the family
separation, with a “non-parent adult”.
 Safety is paramount:
The decision as to the offer of an ADR process
requires the elevation of safety above all. Cases
must be right for the clients at this time. Case
complexity must be continually assessed by
practitioners using standardised screening and
risk assessment processes. Assessing a case’s
suitability should also involve the creation of a
whole of family safety plan, including the safety
of children. If a case can be made appropriate for
family mediation, then we argue consideration
must be given to meeting with the children in the
family.
 Meeting With Children is different to
reporting back to parents:
There is a difference between messages a child
agrees can be shared with parents and the
judgement of the practitioner with respect to the
readiness of parents to hear those messages. A
practitioner may hold back any direct child
feedback until the parental readiness increases.

For the purposes of this book we will make use of a
safety planning matrix around four levels of case risk
(Graham & Watson 2016).