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When
the Children and Family Services Ministry involves itself in families,
there are often major clashes between the social worker(s), the
mother, the father, the child or children, the foster parents, the
grandparents, and so on.
When these problems fester, things get worse as relationships deteriorate.
The prospects of working things out seem more and more remote, and
each side wonders if a decision by a judge is the only way out.
Experience has shown that at any stage in a child protection situation,
a healthy discussion can open a door towards a workable future.
Whatever the problem, be it communication, culture, process, life-style;
a mediation can help each side to get the other to pay heed to what
that side believes is important.
Wayne is on the Child Protection Roster, and is mediating child
protection cases in the Peace River area.
A child protection mediation works in two stages. On the first afternoon,
Wayne meets with the social worker and team leader, and finds out
what they consider the issues to be. Then he meets with each parent,
and other important parties such as the child if over the age of
12, and grandparents or band representative or care giver if appropriate,
and finds out how they see the issues, and he alerts them to what
is important to the Ministry. The next morning, the group meets.
Wayne explains what he has learned, and the parties work through
the topics that they have selected.
In a typical case, each side comes in with frustrations, and is
able to get those frustrations onto the table in a way that allows
them to be worked on, so they can move beyond being frustrated.
Each side knows that the mediation is confidential, which means
that things need to get done right then and there. With a neutral
guide, it is normal for the meetings to make a huge difference.
Child Protection Mediation can be used at any stage. As the Ministry
of Child and Family Services moves (as of September 2006) to a Family
Problem Solving model, the parties now have a way to get at problems
without a judge, and at an earlier stage.
The phone number for the child protection roster is 1-888-713-0433.
Call the Roster or call or send
an email to Peacebuilder Mediation if you want to get things
moving.
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Family
Mediation
About Wayne Plenert
Civil Mediation
Child Protection
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