ABSTRACT
The primary focus of the mediator is on disputes. These are the specific, identifiable issues that divide the parties and which need to be distinguished from the wider conflict that is also associated with family breakdown. Conflict can be of many kinds, dimensions and levels; it can take many forms and derive from a range of sources - intra-personal, interpersonal, intra-group, inter-group, local and international. A dispute may be defined as a sense of grievance over a specific issue, which is communicated as a contested claim to the person regarded as responsible or blameworthy. Family disputes generate intense emotional reactions, although disputes of any kind, particularly between individuals, have a high emotional content as well. Child contact, when it does become problematic, can be highly contentious. The approach of the law is that contact is a private matter best agreed between parents, without the need for court intervention.
