Post-Separation Support Services
Family Mediation
Background
When a marriage breaks down, both spouses are often overwhelmed with emotions and feel deeply hurt. Even amid anger and resentment, there are still many matters that must be discussed and arranged together, such as childcare and the division of finances. These discussions are usually painful and difficult. In order to finalize the divorce quickly, some people may agree to terms they are not truly satisfied with, or give up important rights. If the two parties remain at an impasse, they often have no choice but to turn to the courts. Once in litigation, they face mutual accusations and must also bear enormous costs in time, money, and emotional energy. Past experience has shown that if the court ruling is unacceptable to either side, the resulting disputes can cause even greater distress for both parents and children.
What We Do
What Is Family Mediation Service?Family mediation is a cooperative process that helps couples who are divorcing or already divorced reach consensus and resolve conflicts over separation arrangements. A trained and neutral mediator assists both parties in finding solutions, making arrangements regarding children’s care, visitation, parenting, living arrangements, and financial distribution. The goal is to develop parenting agreements, reduce the time and costs of court proceedings, and increase willingness to follow through on agreements.
Benefits of Family Mediation Service
- Helping parents develop a caregiving plan in line with the best interests of the child, clarifying responsibilities and obligations.
- Supporting constructive communication between parents, encouraging shared consensus on childcare and strengthening commitment to the agreement.
- Free of charge, with a fair and rational process that reduces litigation costs and conflict.
- Providing access to on-site legal consultation, psychological counseling, or referrals to other resources. Services vary by location; please contact your local service center for details.
- Where should the child live?
- Who should have custody?
- How will living and education expenses be shared?
- How will visitation be arranged after divorce?
- What can be done if a parent cannot see the child?
- Other matters related to the child’s living arrangements.
Who We Serve
Families facing separation, divorce, or already divorced who need to negotiate issues concerning children under the age of 18 — such as custody, visitation, and child support — provided that both parties are willing to engage in mediation.
Contact Us
📧E-mail: goodbye@cwlf.org.t🌐Post-Separation Support Services Website
Accompanied Visitation Services
Background
Divorce ends the marital relationship, but it does not sever the bond between parents and children. Yet when conflicts between adults persist, how can children keep in touch with both parents? How can a visitation be arranged without sparking further disputes? And how can children be supported during visitation?
When parents separate or divorce, past resentments and anger are sometimes carried over into the parent-child relationship, making it difficult to calmly handle visitation matters. Children are often left to endure in silence, afraid to express how much they miss the other parent, and may even lose the opportunity to maintain that relationship and access to resources.
What We Do
What is Accompanied Visitation Service?
This service is provided by CWLF social workers, who assist in arranging and accompanying children under 18 during scheduled visitations with their non-residential parents. Visitations take place at CWLF or court-designated visitation centers equipped with picture books, reading materials, toys, and art supplies to support positive parent-child interaction.Throughout the service, social workers also engage parents in discussions on parenting, helping children gradually adjust to visitation. The goal is to support both parents and children in building a foundation for independent visitation in the future, fostering cooperative parenting, and ensuring safe, stable, and reassuring contact for children.
Benefits of Family Mediation Service
- Safeguarding children’s rights by focusing on the true purpose of visitation and shielding them from adult conflicts.
- Professional social workers accompany the visitation, offer timely assistance, encourage parent-child interaction, and reduce anxiety for both parents and children.
- Social workers provide feedback based on their observations from during visitations, helping parents better understand children’s needs.
- Assessments and agreements in advance to ensure that both parents and the child clearly understand the process and are well-prepared emotionally.
Who We Serve
- Cases assessed by CWLF as not involving domestic violence or personal safety concerns.
- Parents who are divorced or separated but, for various reasons, are unable to arrange visitation with their underage children on their own, provided both parties agree to use this service.
- Cases under court review or enforcement where accompanied visitation by a social worker is required, referred to CWLF by the court.
- When parents have not yet reached an agreement on the frequency or arrangement of visitation, CWLF’s family mediation service can first assist in developing a temporary visitation plan.
Contact Us
📧E-mail: goodbye@cwlf.org.tw🌐Post-Separation Support Services Website
Children in Separated Families Support Services
Background
When parents go through changes, conflicts, or even breakdowns in their intimate relationships, it is not only their own lives and emotions that are affected. Most children also grow up in households marked by arguments, conflicts, or silent standoffs. Like their parents, children are impacted emotionally, and in severe cases, their physical development may also be affected. Yet children and families do not always have the strategies or inner resources needed to cope with and transform these challenges.
What We Do
What is Children in Separated Families Support Service?
Guided by the mission to “create a better world together with children,” we seek to expand services for children from families who may experience, are currently going through, or have already gone through separation or divorce. These services aim to help children process the emotional impact and changes brought by their parents’ separation. In family mediation, child-inclusive mediators also play a key role by bringing the child’s feelings and thoughts about the divorce and future life adjustments into the discussions between parents.
Benefits of Children in Separated Families Support Service
- Helping children recognize, release, and process the experiences, emotions, and stress brought about by parental separation or divorce.
- Supporting children of families receiving mediation services in expressing their feelings, emotions, and expectations for future life after their parents’ separation, and ensuring that parents understand their children’s perspectives. This enables the mediation process to develop caregiving plans that align with the best interests of the child.
- If during the service children are assessed as needing counseling or therapy, referrals will be made to CWLF’s Child Trauma and Resilience Center or other agencies. This provides further support to help children cope with the psychological stress, emotions, and possible trauma resulting from parental separation or divorce.
Content of Service
- Children’s Voices: Emotional growth group for children from divorced families
- Child-Inclusive Mediation: Through child-inclusive mediators, children’s perspectives are brought into their parents’ family mediation process.
Contact Us
📧E-mail: goodbye@cwlf.org.tw🌐Post-Separation Support Services Website
Child Abduction Services
Background
In recent years, Taiwan has seen a growing number of cases in which minors are taken away from home by one parent or a relative without consent. To address this issue, the Social and Family Affairs Administration under the Ministry of Health and Welfare established, in January 2014, the Operating Procedure for Searching Missing Minors Taken Away by a Parent (or Relative) Without Consent. CWLF was designated as the single reporting contact to provide services for such missing children and their families. These services include family consultation, referral to search channels and relevant resources, and support to ensure that children taken away are able to maintain normal parent-child relationships.
What We Do
- Searching for missing children taken away without consent
- Checking children’s safety within Taiwan, across the Taiwan Strait, and internationally
- Communication and coordination on matters related to children’s rights and welfare
- Provision of and referral to relevant resources
- Helping children taken away without consent and their families adapt to daily life
- Public education and awareness campaigns to prevent child abduction by family members
- Advocacy on issues and cases related to child abduction by family members
Who We Serve
Children under the age of 18 who have been taken away from home by a parent or a relative within the third degree of kinship without consent, as well as their families (excluding cases involving domestic violence or child abuse).
Contact Us
📧E-mail: takenaway@cwlf.org.tw⬛ Read more:
2024 Conference on Building a Child-Friendly Co-Parenting Model for Divorced Families