Family Solutions
Your Solution Your Way
When family law solicitors Claire Webb and Rebecca Hawkins founded Mediation Now in 2007, they were one of the first firms to recognise the need for a practice that specialised in mediation, and not just traditional solicitor led work. Now, some 16 years later, they are once again driving new ways of working with the launch of Family Solutions which has incorporated Mediation Now.
Family Solutions offers all currently available approaches in the family law world, meaning they can work with you to tailor your case depending upon your unique circumstances. Claire says “every case is different, and every family that we work should be treated individually. Court shouldn’t automatically be the first port of call or the first thing a separating person thinks about, it’s about a cultural shift into more effective ways of sorting out arrangements. We have always embraced new ways of working to reduce the adversarial system that we have. Rebecca and I believe passionately that if you can reduce conflict and improve positive communication, then outcomes for families improve dramatically.”
Part of the goal for the firm is to change the language of separation, and make information easier to understand and more accessible. Family Solutions has embraced the words of the President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice in the UK, Sir Andrew MacFarlane who has said “as well as a far greater resort to mediation, is needed a wholesale cultural change supported by information, guidance, education and access to a multi-disciplinary professional services.”
The first step to deciding which option is best for you, Family Solutions will carry out an individual assessment meeting; they’ll listen to what you would like to achieve and the background, and then go through all the approaches available. The firm offers solutions which help you work together all the way to acting on your behalf or making decisions for you.
Rebecca says “its vitally important that we concentrate on solutions that are child centred; parents’ roles don’t stop when their children grow up and the impact on children of poorly handled separations and conflict can last from childhood long into adulthood; we all have a responsibility in ensuring that we’re modelling effective dispute resolution and reducing conflict.”
