Family Mediation
Grandparent contact with Grandchildren
Grandparents can be a wonderful source of fun, games, cuddles and company for grandchildren in everyday life. When children are facing major changes in their life their grandparents can provide a vital stabilising resource for them, while the parents of the children resolve issues and plan a stable future for their children.
Grandparents can lose contact with their grandchildren for all sorts of reasons, when the parents of the children separate/divorce, when there is a disagreement between a grandparent and one of the parents and when a misunderstanding occurs between the grandparent and a grandchild.
Restoring mutually beneficial contact between grandparents and grandchild is a worthwhile exercise in most cases but achieving it can be fraught with difficulties.
In an ideal world any tensions and misunderstandings will be resolved by direct communications between the grandparents, the parents and in some cases the grandchildren and contact between the grandparents and their grandchildren will be speedily re-established.
If it seems to be impossible to re-establish contact with grandchildren it may be appropriate to suggest mediation as a way for all parties to discuss openly the issues between them and come to a better understanding regarding contact between the grandparents and grandchildren. Mediation is a voluntary process so to proceed with mediation it would be necessary for all parties to agree to it.
If not all the parties are able to agree to mediate then it may be helpful for a grandparent or parent to contact me with the view to using family coaching (can be for one individual) to help them resolve family issues including contact for grandchildren with their grandparents.
