Family Mediators' Association

About

The Family Mediators Association is a registered charity (No. 1002971) and was founded in 1988 by a group of six family lawyers and family therapists in order to offer family mediation to private clients outside the court system. Prior to this, mediation had been available only in a limited number of circumstances to clients within the court systems. This progressive initiative greatly advanced the development of family mediation and to this day the FMA remains at the vanguard. Many of our mediators are contracted to the Legal Services Commission to provide mediation for publicly funded clients.
The FMA provides training, supervision and other services to its members who now number some three hundred nationwide. We take standards and regulation seriously and work to a Code of Practice. Internally we have a network of Professional Practice Consultants who are able to advise our mediators, and who have their own training requirements. Externally, the FMA was a founder member of the UK College of Family Mediation which co-ordinates regulation and develops common standards.
The FMA is an education charity whose work is important in reducing the personal and societal cost of family breakdown. In 2001, we contracted our administration to the ADR Group which provides mediation in other areas of the law, while retaining our charitable status.

Family mediation is a voluntary process by which couples in dispute, particularly those going through separation or divorce, are helped to deal with arrangements for their future.

Many couples prefer to negotiate their own private arrangements with the assistance of a family mediator rather than put their decisions in the hands of the courts. By making this choice, couples are helped to communicate better and to minimise conflict whilst ensuring that future arrangements are tailor-made to suit the needs of their own particular family. Couples can discuss parenting issues and finances together in the presence of a trained and impartial mediator who can help them consider all the available options. Family mediators ensure couples have the information (both legal and, where appropriate, about the affects of separation and divorce on their children) needed to reach informed decisions about the future of their families.

From this website you can find a mediator in your area