An Evaluation of 'Mediation in Mind' - Final Report

Abstract

This is the final report prepared as an Evaluation by the University of Exeter of a project 'Mediation in Mind' for the Department of Work and Pensions.(DWP) 'Mediation in Mind’ was led by Hall Smith Whittingham Solicitors, a Cheshire-based legal and mediation practice, with funding from the Department of Work and Pension (DWP)’s ‘Reducing Parental Conflict Challenge Fund’. It was conducted over 12 months to 31st March 2020. It sought to ascertain whether providing 100 disadvantaged separated parents with triage and signposting, legal information, counselling, communication sessions and a meeting for the young people with the mediator (where appropriate) as part of the mediation process increased emotional readiness to mediate; improved inter-parental communication and increased engagement in mediation. It further aimed to provide an evidence base on whether providing training to service providers working with disadvantaged parents increased the service providers’ understanding of mediation and the impact of separation on parents as well as their willingness to refer parents to mediation, thereby increasing the uptake of mediation. The objective of the independent evaluation was to explore the effectiveness of the initiative in improving inter-parental communication, increasing engagement in mediation, and reducing recourse to court in a sample of disadvantaged parents. A mixed-methods approach was used. The evaluation was implemented through three rounds of quantitative survey data collection and analysis, and qualitative semi-structured interviews with three support service providers, 20 parents and five children. This report represents the evaluation findings.