The Family Mediation Council seeks to appoint a Chairand Treasurer
The field of family mediation has seen significant changes over recent years and, with the practice a key part of the government’s strategy to improving people’s experience of family breakdown, it is anticipated that family mediation will continue to grow. The Family Mediation Council (FMC) is dedicated to promoting best practice in family mediation and to ensuring the public can confidently access family mediation services, offering exacting professional and training standards.The FMC is now seeking to appoint a new Chair, to succeed the first chair of the FMC who is stepping down, and a Treasurer to ensure financial probity, as two of the three independent director posts on its board.
Background
Since early 2010 the government has placed increasing importance on the role of family mediation within the family justice system. Policy makers and government have moved this non confrontational, out of court dispute resolution option onto the centre of the stage of family justice. In April 2013 significant changes to legal aid led to an increasing reliance on the role of family mediation in the resolution of family based disputes. A year later, changes to legislation brought in a statutory requirement for those seeking to apply to the courts to resolve their family disputes to attend a mediation assessment meeting before issuing proceedings, to see if mediation would be a suitable option.
The FMC was set up in 2007 with the aim of harmonising standards for family mediation in England and Wales. Itbrings together the six national family mediation organisations: ADR Group, College of Mediators, Family Mediators Association, The Law Society, National Family Mediation, and Resolution. Its role is to ensure standards are set for family mediation, and to represent and promote family mediation to the public. Each member organisation appoints a director to the board of the FMC. The constitution also specifies that there should be three independent directors.
In 2012 the FMCcommissioned a review of itsfunction and purpose. The review, conducted by Professor John McEldowney, concluded that
“The independent Board Members have a pivotal role in shaping the future of the FMC and ensuring that the FMC may act independently when required from the member organisations.”
A key recommendation of the review was that there should be one standard of accreditation for all family mediators and that the FMC should be responsible for these professional standards as well as a self regulatory framework for the family mediation profession. The FMC commissioned Dr Stan Lester, a leading expert on professional standards, to carry out this work which he did together with representatives of the profession as a whole. This work was completed in September 2014, and the new standards framework is now being implemented by the FMC through its independent standards board (FMSB). The FMSB is operationally independent of the FMC, and is composed of three independent members and three individual mediator members.
As part of its continuing development, the FMC became an incorporated body in April 2015.
The FMCnow wishes to appoint two new independent directors of the FMC to work alongside the rest of the board: a Chair to guide and facilitate the FMC in the formulation of the next stage of its development and strategy, which will build upon the successful work of recent years and continue to promote family mediation; and a Treasurer to hold an overview of the FMC’s affairs, ensuring its financial viability and that it maintains proper financial records and procedures.
The roles are not remunerated although reasonable travel to all meetings on FMC related business will be reimbursed.
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