Mediation in Germany
In cases of child abduction or disputes about child relocation, mediation can be an efficient, fast en less expensive way to settle the dispute.
During al stages of the abduction court procedure there is the option to start mediation. The law in Germany allows judges to require the parties to participate in an informational meeting about mediation. Germany has a very well developed system of international mediation in family cases.
The mediation can by organized by MiKK, International Mediation Centre for Family Conflict and Child Abduction. MiKK advises parents from all over the world and organizes co-mediations for parents both in Germany and abroad. The mediators of the International MiKK Mediators Network are based in 30 countries offering mediations in 30 languages.
Co-mediation
The co-mediations are conducted by a male and female mediator, one of whom has a legal and the other a psychological/social or education background. Furthermore, the co-mediators speak the parties’ common language as well as their respective mother tongues. In addition, they come from the same countries as the parties, so have indepth knowledge of the parties’ respective culture involved. The mediators are qualified not only by their mediation training and experience, but also by a specialized advanced 50-hour Cross-border Family Mediation training (CBFM) on the complexity and the specific circumstances surrounding international child abduction proceedings and the legal issues involved.
4 B mediation
This training was originally developed and piloted in the EU Civil Justice project in 2010. The bi-lingual, bi-cultural mediation model was originally developed within a German-French pilot project on mediation. In a German-Polish pilot project on mediation this mediation model was further refined by German mediators (MiKK) and Polish Mediators (DOM) establishing the so called “4 B mediation model”, i.e. bi-professional, bi-gender, bi-lingual and bi-cultural co-mediations.
Costs
The cost of mediation is normally borne by the parties themselves, but the Central Authority may arrange for funded mediation in certain cases.
Read more about child relocation and child abduction in Germany
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