Center for Divorce Education

A nationwide survey of practitioner-level mediators (n = 253) was conducted in order to ascertain their views of the effectiveness of divorce education programs for parents on both the process and outcome of divorce mediation. Over three-quarters of the respondents (77%) reported that divorce education programs were available in their communities, most typically run by the local court (27%) or an independent, nonprofit organization (25%), and over half (53%) being mandatory. Over half of mediators report that they do formal divorce education with clients at least sometimes (28.5% regularly, 24.5% sometimes).

Significant impacts on the mediation process and outcome included: greater child focus, more cooperation and better communication skills demonstrated by the parents; fewer sole custody parenting plans (with a tendency for more shared parenting plans) negotiated; and a trend for less time required to reach agreement. Model responses indicated that mediators generally believe divorce education would be appropriate for highly conflicted and power-imbalanced couples, but less so for couples involved in substance or spousal abuse. Just over two-thirds (68.9%) believe divorce education should be mandatory for all divorcing couples with children.