Number of children involved in private family law cases has shown no improvement by greater use of mediation in family proceedings recent figures have shown.
In April 2011 mediation as an obligation was introduced and number of children involved in private family law cases has fallen by 2,755 from 59,093 in the six month period before the protocol was introduced, to 56,338 between January and June 2012, according to MoJ figures.
A family lawyer with a firm has said that solicitors were circumventing the rules which have led the government to espouse out of court settlements.
Solicitors in practice according the expert often used one of the exemptions such an urgent application being moved citing risk of harm or alleging domestic violence or just ticking an alternative reason provided in the box.
So the pre application protocol was introduced on 6 April 2011 requiring parties to first meet the obligation of mediation MIAM (Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting) before making an application under private law proceedings involving children or financial remedies.
The application is made using a form ‘FM1’, confirming attendance at a MIAM or giving the reasons for not attending.
The Children and Families Bill 2013 would give statutory backing to MIAMs, making them compulsory for private and publicly-funded clients, with exceptions.
Courts have been relaxed in allowing proceedings to continue to court without scrutinising the relevant form, but the practice changes with judge to judge and also across the country says the family law solicitor.
The acting President of the Family Division issued a letter of guidance in December 2012 stating that court staff and judges had to be more thorough in their approach.
The bill would see a fall of number of cases going to courts as mediation was shown as answer to all problems ailing divorce and family separation by reducing the time and cost for both the courts and the family involved says another family law expert.
But the recent figures have shown that the impact was below government expectations. Couples are expected to pay for mediation and if the case is complicated one then the cost is almost equal or not less than what it takes going to the court said the expert.
Another family law solicitor who had been a mediator for long has said mediation was a fashionable in as much as it comes and goes but the aim of establishing it was a long term goal.
After April mediation is going to be extensively used and some families may not find protection relying solely on mediation as it is not a regulated profession but it would be made alternative proceedings to court by regulating mediators to be reputable and trustworthy said the solicitor.
A mediator and solicitor said that mediation would take 110 days to resolve a family dispute compared to 435 days for a non-mediated case.