These concerns raised by parents echo conclusions drawn in the report of the Commission on the Future of the California Courts. Considering the volume and complexity of contemporary family law cases, it is heartening that a significant proportion of clients report positive outcomes associated with their experiences in family court. The more sustained satisfaction of those who form mediated agreements also reinforces the commission's recommendation for more extensive appropriate dispute resolution services. In addition, there appears to be a growing need for ongoing services to support families through each phase of the process and to bolster parenting plans over the child's minority. The term excludes financial arrangements, such as child support transfers, since court-annexed mediation in California does not cover those matters.
Judicial determination establishes custody in only a small proportion of families.
Most cases that reach impasse in mediation are resolved using some intermediate step, such as mediator recommendations to the bench, child custody evaluations, settlement conferences, or renewed attempts by parents to reach self-determined agreements. No initial satisfaction data are available for those who formed parenting plans using other methods, since those services had not been implemented at the time of the 1991 Snapshot. It may have been several months, or even years, before nonmediated agreements were formed. Therefore, for those who did not form mediated agreements, we have satisfaction data at only one time point, the Followup Study.