Children

At Montreux Mediation our focus is to put children’s needs first. We endeavour to help parents make sensible and sustainable decisions for their children’s arrangements. We can offer an opportunity for children to have a separate meeting with a children's mediator to express their thoughts and feelings about the changes in their lives. This is called ‘Child Inclusive Mediation’.
 
Child Inclusive Mediation gives children of a suitable age the forum to express their feelings and wishes for the future.
Research suggests that children find it very difficult if their parents separate or divorce, but that the experience is much worse for them if they are very aware of their parents arguing with each other, particularly if they know that their parents are arguing about them. Family mediation offers a calm and neutral environment in which issues concerning children can be discussed and resolved without making the children feel that they are the cause of their parents’ unhappiness. 
 
Our family mediators focus on the needs of the children in the family, and are able to provide further information about what children themselves have said about divorce and separation and about wanting their parents to work together.
It also reassures them that their parents are taking their views seriously. Although we make it clear to them that they are not being given the power to actually make decisions, it can help their emotional adjustment a great deal just to say what they think and feel about their situation.