The emotional trauma is often devastating, at times leading to suicide. A share of that trauma is due to lawyers requiring an adversarial format to earn their living from unnecessary labor within the court system. Conversely, a study by the University of Maryland's Institute for Child Study showed 88 percent of mediated divorces resulted in joint custody agreements. There were none in court-adjudicated cases. The same study showed agreement on responsibilities and rights in 96 percent of mediated cases.vii These people could hardly have the same confidence and feeling of responsibility when a decision is dictated by a court.
Mediation gives a positive structure for the children of divorce.
This allows the parents to keep maximum control over their lives and the raising of their children. This self-determination allows the participants to retain dignity and the ability to better determine the course of their lives. They may use their own strength, authority, and intelligence rather than accept the dictates of an uninterested and possibly biased judge who likely knows little or nothing of the individual needs of that family. As the parties are responsible for their own decisions, mediation has the potential to be cooperative rather than adversarial. It resolves rather than creates problems, releasing energy for future development instead of squandering it in destructive battles.