An interview with an Aboriginal woman who talks about her experience with child protection mediation. She tells us how mediation helps both parents and child welfare workers who are unable to resolve a plan of care for a child, reach a decision together in a non-judgmental way.
Child protection mediation is a voluntary and confidential collaborative problem-solving process for settling child welfare disagreements. It brings together parents, child welfare workers and others to plan for a child's safety and well-being. It is an alternative to adversarial court processes and is provided free to participants.
Mediation is facilitated by neutral, specially trained mediators contracted from the private sector to the Ministry of Attorney General Child Protection Mediation Program.
The Child, Family and Community Services Act provides for mediation when parents and child welfare authorities disagree about a child's plan of care. Most mediation cases are resolved quickly and participants indicate they are highly satisfied with the process. This video was produced by the Ministry of Children and Family Development and Ministry of Attorney General as part of the Legal Services Society Child Protection Mediation Funding Initiative.