ABSTRACT
This chapter searches for a sense of the significance of mediation through reflections upon contemporary discourse and previous research, and via interpretations and analysis of data from the Essex study concerning the purposes, achievements and disappointments of mediation as experienced by parents. As things stand at the moment, family court services offer and continue to deliver mediation without having access to research evidence on the duration of agreements reached: this is an uncomfortable position and one that cannot be easily consoled. Earlier research in the field of child-focused mediation has also pointed to the high incidence of differences over a wider range of issues: Walker et al, reported that one in three of their 'couples' were in disagreement about either property or financial arrangements. Statistical analysis of the Essex study data has pinpointed a small number of factors associated with the persistence of agreements made at mediation.
