Family mediation: clinical strategies in mediating child custody.

Family medicine has only begun to explore the extent of its contribution to the process of family mediation--the clinical application of conflict resolution theory to the divorce process. This article reviews the literature on the impact of separation and divorce on families and recommends the use of family mediation as a clinical strategy to sensitize parents to the needs of the children during the divorcing process. Goals of family mediation include the assurance that the children have frequent and continuing contact with natural parents to the extent that this is to the benefit of the child. A specific model of family mediation is presented and the role of family physicians in the mediation is explored.