ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the rise of child custody mediation and focuses on the version currently required by California law. It discusses the promises of mediation: reliance on context rather than exclusively on abstract rules; the inclusion of emotions along with rational self-interest; and the introduction of self-determination in the place of an outside decision maker. The chapter explores the particular dangers to women of mandatory mediation's requirement of direct engagement with their adversary. It suggests that alternatives to a system of mandatory mediation. The chapter explains the mediation process as a microlegal setting characterized by certain normative components. It examines the "law" of that setting with respect to the parties' relationship and emotions, and the informal sanctions that may be applied by the mediator for departures from the approved way of handling the issues. The introduction of mediation into family court processes was another part of the effort to make the adversary system fit the realities of divorce more closely.
