Child-Focused Mediation in 2025: How Family Law Reform is Reshaping Parenting Disputes in Victoria
Introduction: The Shift to Child-Centred Dispute Resolution
In 2025, the way we resolve parenting disputes is changing - not just in law, but in practice. The Family Law Amendment Act 2024, which came into effect in June 2025, redefines how the legal system considers the needs of children during separation and divorce.
For Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) practitioners, these reforms are more than procedural updates. They represent a shift toward a more child-focused, holistic, and safety-conscious approach to resolving disputes between separated parents.
In this post, we explore how the law has changed, what it means for FDR services, and how mediators can better centre children’s voices in the work they do.
The Legal Changes: Children’s Needs at the Forefront
As of 10 June 2025, the following key reforms now guide parenting matters in the Family Law Act:
Removal of the Presumption of Equal Shared Parental Responsibility
The previous legal presumption that both parents should share decision-making equally has been removed. The focus is on:
What is safe, developmentally appropriate, and in the child’s best interests.
Simpler, Unified Best Interests Test
The new law changes the factors the court considers when determining parenting arrangements. The general considerations include:
what arrangements would promote the safety (including safety from being subjected to, or exposed to, family violence, abuse, neglect, or other harm) of the child; and each person who has care of the child (whether or not a person has parental responsibility for the child);
any views expressed by the child;
the developmental, psychological, emotional and cultural needs of the child;
the capacity of each person who has or is proposed to have parental responsibility for the child to provide for the child's developmental, psychological, emotional and cultural needs
the benefit to the child of being able to have a relationship with the child's parents, and other people who are significant to the child, where it is safe to do so;
anything else that is relevant to the particular circumstances of the child.
Greater Emphasis on Children’s Voices
Courts - and by extension, FDR services - must give weight to the child’s own experience and opinions.
What This Means for FDR Services
Family Dispute Resolution is often the first and only intervention separating families use to create a parenting plan. The 2025 reforms encourage a deeper integration of child-focused principles in every stage of the process.
Intake and Risk Screening
Practitioners should:
Ask age-appropriate questions about how children are coping, through parents or direct consultation.
Consider the suitability of Child Inclusive Mediation in each matter to give children the opportunity to have their voice heard.
Child-Inclusive Mediation (CIM)
With the law reinforcing children’s rights to express their views, FDR practitioners are encouraged to:
Offer Child-Inclusive Mediation where appropriate (with trained child consultants).
Use tools like child observation sessions, drawings, or play-based interviews.
Ensure that children’s voices inform - but do not dictate - outcomes.
Flexible Parenting Plans
Parenting plans should reflect real-world dynamics, including:
School schedules, transport availability, and extra-curricular activities
Emotional bonds with extended family (including siblings and grandparents)
Needs of the specific children - there is no “one size fits all”
Practitioners should encourage flexible, reviewable parenting plans that prioritise safety and stability over rigidity.
Tools & Techniques
To embed child-focused practices in your FDR service:
Ask about child development and experience during intake
Work with specially trained Child Consultants to bring the child’s voice to the discissions
Create child-friendly information sheets for parents to explain the process
Involve cultural advisors where family heritage, language, or religious needs are central to the child’s wellbeing
Final Thoughts
The 2025 family law reforms are a clear message to all professionals working with separating families: children must come first - not just in rhetoric, but in practice.
For FDR practitioners, this is a powerful opportunity to evolve beyond conflict management and into a deeper, more meaningful form of family support - one where every child is seen, heard, and safe.
Resources
Attorney-General’s Department - Family Law Reforms
Relationships Australia Victoria - Child-Focused FDR
Federal Circuit and Family Court - Parenting Resources
Interested in CIM for your family? Contact us to book an intake and learn more about this service.