In many very high conflict situations, it is not uncommon for only one party to reach out for help to resolve family conflict. The other party on the other hand may prefer to use the family court system to gain the upper hand and to spite the willing party. In this regard, the unwilling party may intentionally attempt to use the litigation to create delays which can cause financial harm to the willing party thereby indirectly causing significant harm to any children who may be involved in the matter
In this situation, should the party seeking assistance meet the criteria to have services provided under the Program, then services can be provided to one consenting party. Priority for acceptance into the Program is given to single consenting parties where the issues of conflict involve allegations of children being subjected to abuse and/or neglect by another party. When there is only one consenting party, the mediation process will be bypassed, and the intervention portion of the program will then be applied.
Even if only one party requests services, all other parties involved will still be contacted and given the fair and equal opportunity to participate. Should the other party decide to participate, both parties will be redirected back to the first stage mediation process in an attempt to get the parties to reach a mutually agreeable settlement.