Book Reviews : Christine Piper, The Responsible Parent: A Study in Divorce Mediation. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993, 255pp
| Date | 01 December 1995 |
| Author | Hilary Astor |
| Published date | 01 December 1995 |
| DOI | 10.1177/096466399500400416 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
544
deployment
of
law?
The
ultimate
issue
becomes
whether
there
is
a
role
for
law
in
the
imagining
of
a
national
identity
which
incorporates
the
historical
oppression
of
the
nation’s
others
and
which
transcends
the
self-other
binary.
Obviously,
these
are
obdurate
problems
and
it
is
perhaps
unfair
to
expect attempts
at
answers
in
an
edited
collection.
The
contributors
are
to
be
commended,
however,
in
raising
the
central
questions
and
in
using
a
variety
of
examples
to
demonstrate
the
themes
of
the
collection.
One
hopes
that
future
collections -
perhaps
emerging
out
of
Critical
Legal
Conferences -
will
tackle
this
next
level
of
analysis.
CARL
F.
STYCHIN
Department
of Law,
Keele
Universtty,
UK
CHRISTINE
PIPER,
The
Responsible
Parent:
A
Study
in
Divorce
Mediation.
London:
Harvester
Wheatsheaf,
1993, 255pp.
Writing
about
mediation
frequently
falls
into
one
of
two
categories -
the
rhetorical
or
the
practical.
The
scholar
of
alternative
dispute
resolution
becomes
used
to
variants
of
’mediation
can
change
the
world’,
inevitably
associated
with
accounts
of
’how
to
mediate’.
The
Responsible
Parent,
however,
is
a
book
of
critical
scholarship
supported
by
empirical
observation
of
mediation
and
is
a
valuable
contribution
to
the
scholarly
literature.
Mediation
is
an
enormously
appealing
mechanism
for the
resolution
of
family
disputes.
In
the
United
Kingdom
(as
in
Australia,
Canada
and
the
United
States)
mediation
has
met
with
almost
uncritical
approval.
Its
attraction
lies
in
its
promise
to
resolve
family
disputes
quickly
and
cheaply,
thus
relieving
overloaded
courts
of
the
family
disputes
they
have
anyway
been
resistant
to
accept
as
their
business.
Mediation
carries
the
further
promise
that
it
will
resolve
family
disputes
in
a
caring
manner.
It
thus
becomes
irresistible
and
ubiquitous.
The
reality
of
the
appropriate
role
of
family
mediation
is,
not
surprisingly,
a
much
more
complex
matter.
While
it is
an
excellent
method
of
resolving
some
family
disputes
for
some
people,
it
is
entirely
unsuitable
for
others.
Family
mediation
presently
deserves
the
sort
of
careful
consideration
which
it
is
likely
to
receive
only
in
retrospect.
The
Responsible
Parent
reflects
the
complexity
of
the
issues
in
family
mediation.
It
is
a
piece
of
careful
analysis
and
empirical
research
which
challenges
the
assumptions
underlying
divorce
mediation.
It
adds
to
existing
scholarly
work
on
this
important
topic
and
will
no
doubt
support
and
provoke
further
work.
In
analysing
the
reasons
for
the
current
enthusiasm
for
divorce
mediation
it
locates
them
in
those
political
and
legal
changes
which
require
parental
responsibility
for
the
welfare
of
children
and
emphasize
the
continuation
of
that
responsibility
after
marital
breakdown.
The
book
considers
the
ways
in
which
this
notion
of
parental
responsibility
is
constructed
in
mediation
and
the
factors
which
affect
parents’
acceptance
of
responsibility,
both
in
mediation
and
afterwards.
It
also
considers
who
carries
the
responsibility
for
the
work
of
parenting,
in
particular
whether
the
idea
of
parental
responsibility
to
be
found
in
mediation
reflects
women’s
concerns.
The
analysis
is
based
in
UK
and
international
literature
on
mediation
and
on
data
derived
from
the
author’s
original
research.
Christine
Piper
observed
twenty-four
mediation
sessions
at
a
probation
based
out-of-court
mediation
service.
These
sessions
were
taped
and
analysed.
The
mediators
and
the
parties
were
interviewed.
Cases
at
the
service
for
one
year
were
reviewed
to
glean
further
data
and
to
establish
the
representative
nature
of
the
sample
observed.
All
research
instruments
and
information
about
the
cases
observed
are
carefully
documented
in
appendices.
The
central
issue
of
the
book
is
the
meaning
given
to
parental
responsibility
in
mediation
and
the
ways
in
which
the
parties
in
mediation
come
to
accept
or
resist
that
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