The Mediation Center

The Mediation Center fills a unique and important niche in our community.  Established in 1992, The Mediation Center is dedicated to providing every citizen in our community access to professional, affordable mediation services. 

 

With a professional staff possessing expertise in the areas of conflict resolution, consensus building, and collaborative strategies, along with the commitment of more than 50 extensively trained, highly skilled mediators from across the community, the Center serves thousands of individuals each year.  The Mediation Center operates on a sliding fee scale allowing anyone to benefit from our services regardless of their ability to pay.

 

 The Center is proud of the quality and breadth of our programming and committed to increasing people’s understanding of mediation as a useful and effective dispute resolution process so they might reach out for services more readily.

 

Families in Crisis 

 

Divorce and Parenting Plan Mediation:  Assists separating or divorcing couples agree on financial settlements and create a Parenting Plan to plan for how they will parent together from two separate households.  This process encourages both parents to continue to fulfill their parenting responsibilities and make decisions based on the best interests of the children.

 

Divorce Mediation in Situations of Domestic Violence:  With specially trained high-conflict mediators this program assures that all divorcing individuals can participate in planning for the future.

 

Family Group Conference:  Serving children from troubled families in crisis this is an intensive, in-depth, facilitated process that brings family, extended family, and other persons important to the family together in one room to plan for the safety, well-being, and permanency of the child.

 

Pre-Hearing Conference:  Designed to clarify options and identify the child’s and the family’s needs and available resources at the outset of the case when a child has been removed from the home.

 

Pre-Permanency Facilitation: Provides an opportunity for the family to plan with the community and service providers, as well as the County Attorney, for permanency for their children at the time relinquishment of parental rights is immiment.

 

Parenting Education Classes:  A video/discussion-based curriculum taught by Center staff, our parenting education classes are designed to help divorcing parents understand the needs of their children during this time of transition and guides them in focusing clearly on their children’s best interests.

 

Juveniles in Crisis

Juvenile Offender/Victim Mediation:  Provides young offenders from the Lancaster County Juvenile Offender Diversion Program and their victims the opportunity to meet each other in a face-to-face meeting mediated by specially trained, volunteer mediators.  Together, they discuss what the offender did and why, how the offense affected the victim and how the offender might make restitution.   

Permanency Conversations for Older Youth in Foster Care:  No group in the United States is more predictably headed for unhappy outcomes than youth who spend their adolescence in foster care.  This program assists older youth in foster care prepare to “age-out” of the foster care system with relationships and supports in place that will persist after the youth leaves foster care and enters adulthood. 

 

Small Claims Court Mediation

When Lancaster County Small Claims Court is in session TMC mediators are at the courthouse to offer litigants the opportunity to mediate their dispute at no cost in lieu of taking it in front of a judge.  Over the past 18 years this program has mediated nearly 2,000 cases at no cost to the parties involved.

 

Facilitation, Consultation, Conflict Management Training

As part of the Center’s commitment to providing the community with quality conflict resolution services, a strong program of skilled staff and affiliates meets the facilitation, consultation, and conflict management and training needs of local businesses, organizations, congregations, and corporations – large and small.