With mediation, you and your former spouse can maintain control of the outcomes and agreements. When you choose a mediator at Moxie Inc., you get the benefit of a mental health professional’s experience and expertise with conflict resolution.

A mediator is a neutral professional who facilitates negotiations between people. This may include mediation of a full divorce, a parenting plan, selected aspects of a separation, or post-decree disputes.

A mediator does not advocate for either parent nor make decisions for the parents.
Mediation is confidential, so both parties have the freedom to make proposals about potential resolutions without concern that those proposals will become part of a litigation process.

Research shows that most children are told very little about their parents’ divorce and have little input about the Parenting Plan. Parents often wish for their children’s input, but don’t know how to involve the children without putting them in the middle of the conflict.

What is Child Informed Mediation?

Child Informed Mediation is a solution to this dilemma, for use with families with school-aged children. Before the parents begin mediation of their parenting plan, they meet with a Child Consultant who then interviews the children to learn about their experiences of:

their parents’ separation: their knowledge, adjustment, and coping skills their relationship security with each parent their parents’ relationship: cooperation & conflict the influence of other relationships: siblings, grandparents, new partners, school historic and current experiences, and views of the future any messages they want delivered to their parents
The material is then formulated and fed back to parents carefully by the child consultant in the first mediation session. The content and emphasis is shaped by the capacity of each parent to hear the feedback, so that the information can be best utilized by the parents to make wise decisions in the mediation process. Having the Child Consultant participate in the early portions of the mediation in this way helps bring “the parents” into the mediation room, not just “the angry ex-spouses” and allows for a more child-sensitive result.

Child Informed Mediation safely gives the child a voice in the process of planning for their family’s future.

Before you engage in a lengthy custody case, you need to weigh the costs and benefits. Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE) can give you an accurate perspective regarding the potential outcome if your case was to proceed to trial.

The ENE begins with parents presenting information about their family to a team of neutrals (typically one male and one female evaluator). The evaluators listen to the facts presented by the parents and their attorneys, and review relevant documents. The evaluators then provide a neutral opinion of what the outcome would most likely be if the case were to proceed to trial.

An ENE can provide you and your former spouse with the perspective you both need to create settlement options that are well considered rather than simply fueled by emotion.

If you and your co-parent are unable to reach an agreement about custody or parenting time, the court can order a Custody or Parenting Time Evaluation.

These evaluations are designed to give the judges the information they need to make custody and parenting time decisions for your family. An evaluator’s task is to learn about your family in order to make recommendations in the best interest of your children. In order for the evaluator to make this assessment, a typical custody evaluation includes interviews with each parent and child as well as teachers, doctors, or daycare providers; observations of parents’ interactions with the children, either in the office or in their home; review of court documents; and psychological testing. At the end of the evaluation process, the evaluator provides feedback and a summary to the clients and/or attorneys, and writes a report that summarizes the recommendations.

Working with you and your co-parent, we can help you negotiate disputes and other matters to avoid costly and time-consuming court intervention. The Parenting Consultant is agreed upon by both parents, pre- or post-decree, and then appointed by a judge. Parenting Consulting is not confidential, so decisions and resolutions are clear and open to both parties.

Initially, the Parenting Consultant will meet with both parents to gather background information, review agreements and court orders and create an agenda of items to be resolved. As we address plans for parenting, the Parenting Consultant may also meet with an individual parent, the children or others to more fully understand the family’s needs.

The Parenting Consultant provides expert opinion and advice, and focuses on helping you and your co-parent to resolve disputes yourselves. However, most court orders give the Parenting Consultant arbitration authority, so that when you are unable to agree, the Parenting Consultant can make decisions for you in order to resolve the dispute.