VICTORIA - The Legal Services Society (LSS) of British Columbia and the British Columbia Mediator Roster Society will benefit from a one time grant totalling $270,000 to support an increase in child protection mediation, announced Children and Family Development Minister Tom Christensen today.

"Mediation and other collaborative planning and decision-making processes help bring children and their families together with their social workers to develop plans and resolve conflict in a positive and constructive manner," said Christensen. "These processes allow families and social workers to focus together on the best interests of the children and move away from the adversarial nature of the court process."

The grant will support the expansion of the child protection mediation program. The funding will be used to recruit additional mediators and provide them with training, clinical supervision and professional development. The mediation services are community based, at no cost to parties.

"The mediation process has demonstrated that collaborative planning and decision-making create a climate of co-operation and result in plans that keep children safe without having to involve the court," said Attorney General Wally Oppal.

"The society is pleased that additional funds are available to support this initiative," said LSS executive director Mark Benton. "Mediation is an effective approach for child protection issues in large because it engages clients and makes them part of findings solutions to their problems."

Child protection mediation is a process to work out disagreements with the help of a mediator as an independent third party. When cases are resolved through mediation, relationships between the family and social worker improve and the length of time children may otherwise spend in care is reduced.

Since 2003, the number of completed child protection mediations has almost doubled. Various regions across the province anticipate a rapid increase in demand for mediators in the near future.

Surveys of families who participate in child protection mediation show they are very satisfied with their experiences. Evaluations indicate 93 per cent of all child protection mediations in the province result in some or all issues being settled in agreements reached by the parties.