Mediation Case

"My mother allows my 13 year old sister, Leanne, to publish a blog [online journal]. She did not know what Leanne was writing about online until she started receiving long distance telephone calls from older men asking for her by name. Both my mother and sister complain to me about the other. My mother tells me that she would like to start reading Leanne's blog daily and would like to delete any content that she finds inappropriate. Leanne tells me that her blog is like a diary, and she doesn't want her mother to read it. Both are very upset with each other."

When might you use mediation in a family conflict? Please explain your answer.

Mediation in a family conflict can be used when you are getting divorced that involves children. Getting divorced would be considered as a formal dispute. "In formal mediations, satisfactory agreements are often worked out at a single mediation session lasting 1-3 hours, although complex cases such as divorce involving child custody may require weekly sessions until all the details are worked out." (p. 196.) In a divorce involving child custody one parent may want full custody whereas the other may want joint custody. In extreme cases like these, this is where mediation would be involved in a family conflict. There are cases were mediation can be used in other family conflict that are not extreme, i.e. two family members disputing over who is going to use the car to get things accomplished.

Reference

Abigail, R. A. & Cahn D.D. (2011). Managing Conflict through communication (4th ed.). Boston, Ma: Allyn and Bacon/Pearson.