The modern emergence of mediation in the West in the 1980s represents a profound transformation of civil disputing practice, particularly in the field of family justice. In the field of family disputes mediation has emerged to fill a gap which none of the existing services, lawyers and courts on the one hand, or welfare, advisory or therapeutic interventions on the other, could in their nature have filled.

In the UK mediation is now the approved pathway in the current landscape of family dispute resolution processes, officially endorsed and publicly funded by government to provide separating and divorcing families with the opportunity to resolve their disputes co-operatively with less acrimony, delay and cost than the traditional competitive litigation and court process.

The consolidation of the professional practice of family mediation reflects its progress and creativity in respect both of the expanding focus on professional quality assurance as well as on developments of policy, practice guidelines and training to address central concerns about the role of children in mediation, screening for domestic abuse, sexual orientation and gender identity as well as cross-cultural issues including the role of interpreters in the process. Other areas of innovation include the application of family mediation to a growing range of family conflict situations involving, for example, international family disputes (including cross border, relocation and child abduction issues).

Written by leaders in family mediation, this title provides a contemporary account of current practice developments and research concerning family mediation across a range of issues in the UK and Ireland.

This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Family Law and Mediation online services.

Marian Roberts Marian has been in continuous practice as a family mediator at the SE London Family Mediation Bureau since 1982. She qualified as a social worker and barrister, and is accredited by the Legal Aid Agency, the College of Mediators and the Family Mediation Council Standards Board, she specialises in high conflict disputes over children. Marian has been involved in the wider developments of family mediation over the years including a national training programme, the professional regulatory framework, and mediation initiatives in the context of public law and child abduction.

Dr Maria Federica Moscati Maria Federica is a Senior Lecturer in Family Law at the University of Sussex. She is an Italian advocate and holds a PhD from SOAS. She has previously convened and lectured at SOAS, Queen Mary and UCL - University of London, and at the University of Shantou in the People's Republic of China. Before undertaking her doctorate she worked for Save the Children Italy where she specialized in children's rights. Her main research interests lie in issues relating to ADR, Access to Justice, Comparative Family Law, Human Rights with focus on children, and LGBTI people.