Postplacement mediation is less often used. Reunion mediation is also a new field. Mediation is sometimes used when attempts for adoptive children and their birth parents to find each other reach the level of legal action. Many come from the need to know medical history. If an adult who was adopted has a child with a disease which may be inherited, she or he would want to know the medical history of the birth family before having another child.
Mediation is often the desired alternative to long and costly legal battles.
Children are often the winners when a more humane process forges positive links with their birth heritage and encourages the adults in their lives to cooperate.