In 2014 New Zealand’s family justice system was reformed and changes were made to the way it assists separating couples to reach agreement about care and contact arrangements for their children.

The reforms introduced the Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) service, an independent mediation service, which shifts the focus from court resolution of childcare disputes to encouraging people to reach agreement themselves.
FDR consists of an assessment, to determine if people are suitable for FDR, preparation for mediation, to help people manage their feelings and focus on what is best for the children, and mediation, working with an independent mediator to reach agreement on care arrangements for the children.

People can be exempt from participating in FDR if domestic violence has been disclosed, if a power imbalance exists between parties, if one or both parties are unable to effectively participate or where parties would not participate in FDR.

Parties who would not participate in FDR make up the highest number of exemptions recorded. Between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2017, there were 1561 disputes with a completed mediation. However, in the same period, the number of exemptions reached 1542 and, of these, 1276 (83%) were because one of the parties would not participate.

The ministry contracts three fully-funded suppliers to deliver FDR services. Both the ministry and the suppliers believed parties chose not to take part in FDR due to cost, so we asked suppliers for more information about parties who do not participate in FDR. (From the Executive summary). More reports relating to the 2014 Family Court reforms can be found on the webpage. Record #5831