Jane and Phil came to mediation to discuss arrangements for their son Joe aged three years.
They had separated two years ago, initially Joe saw Phil every week, however when Phil got a new partner there were arguments and Joe didn’t see Phil for 8 weeks.
Jane was very anxious when she came to mediation. Initially Phil and Jane sat in separate rooms and the Mediator went between them. At the first session some arrangements were agreed for Joe to see Phil. A neutral place was arranged to meet and Phil agreed that he would see Joe at the paternal grandmother’s home and not introduce his new partner at least initially.
The next session Jane felt confident enough to be in the same room as Phil. Over the following five months the length of contact and frequency was gradually increased until contact was taking place, Saturday all day, Tuesday and Thursday.
Jane and Phil agreed overnight contact would happen when Joe was ready but as he was not sleeping through the night, it could wait.
At the last session Jane and Phil agreed mediation had been very helpful and said:
“If we weren’t coming here we wouldn’t be getting on”. (Jane)
“It helped with everything I get to see my son now, and Jane and I can talk.” (Phil)
