Globally there are a huge number of international families seeking resolution of parental, relationship and financial disputes. In many countries, a primary dispute resolution process is through mediation. Yet internationally there is very little happening to assist these international families resolve their cross-border disputes through specialist family mediation. Instead, they find themselves subject to expensive and often highly contentious litigation, quite frequently in forum disputes or arguments about the appropriate and applicable law. Whilst there are many international family lawyers, with supporting organisations, there is nothing of any equivalence for mediation. What is happening is often disjointed, specifically related to one area of family law such as child abduction and certainly is not known to lawyers and judges, the primary referral sources. For a family seeking an international family mediator, there is no common criteria of experience, training, model of working, standard documentation, unanimity of outcome and so much more.
This cannot continue.
The international family community around the world is huge. There are now many tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of internationally mobile families, moving across borders by reason of work, romance or life choice. On relationship breakdown or difficulties, they deserve better than highly conflictual litigation, sometimes with lawyers in different countries each tactically seeking to improve the position of their client, with often national and international laws themselves in conflict or producing very different outcomes. Many of these families seek to resolve outside of the court structure, with the assistance of professionals such as mediators who will help them find a satisfactory solution and way forward.
This Project is specifically to help this community. It is specifically in the context where there is very little already happening for international families in cross-border disputes to resolve outside of expensive litigation.
Róisín O’Shea and David Hodson are both internationally recognised family mediators working over many years with cross-border families. They had been very frustrated at the apparent lack of progress to help these families. Accordingly in late 2022 they set up a steering group, which they Co-Chair, to look at a number of aspects and report on how it can be progressed. The Steering Group combined the primary areas of law where mediation practice differs, especially common law and civil law. It embraced cultures where mediation is distinctively strong. It endeavours to include organisations already active in the field. It did not start with any expectation of a distinctive model of outcome but instead to try to find the best ways forward for individual families in distinctive disputes. The steering group had a number of projects with each having working groups.
The Steering Group is comprised of individuals and is not intended as being representative of organisations, nor intended to put forward any distinctive organisational framework.
The Steering Group seek to serve the international family community and those already working with them such as justice systems, court services, judges, lawyers, mediators and others. This will be by producing documents such as precedent agreements to mediate, codes of conduct, standards of training and other areas of work. Although the master version of each will remain with the Project, it is a crucial part of this work that it will be made available, free of charge, around the world for use in day-to-day situations and for consideration by national organisations. However, we seek feedback in their use and comments for improvement and change, as this website will be updated periodically with the most recent version.