Under no circumstances will the PC be used for the purpose of long-term planning such as critical decisions regarding whether a parent should be allowed to move to a different city and take the child. At times, the judge orders Mediation at the same time the PC is ordered and a new order is not needed in those cases. Therefore, the Priority Consultation will deal only with specific emergency issues for the purpose of temporarily resolving an immediate problem. It will not be used to deal with long-term, permanent plans. The mediator serves as a neutral third party who may make suggestions of possible solutions, but cannot tell the parties how to resolve the issues.
Mediation requires that all participants feel empowered to have input into the process.
The only people involved in mediation are those specifically named as parties on the court order. Therefore, extended family members will not be involved in the mediation unless there is an agreement among the named parties for this to occur. Children are not typically brought into the mediation process. Occasionally, an older adolescent may be interviewed, but this is determined on a case by case basis. Mediation may be completed in one three-hour meeting or may require several meetings as the parties work towards an agreement.