Peer-reviewed article
Child Participation in the Family Law System: A Quantitative Study of Individual and Familial Differences in Children's Experiences and Post‐Divorce Mediation Outcomes
Misja Eiberg, Karen Margrethe Dahl ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines how 1,079 Danish children aged 6-17 experience participation in family law cases through child interviews during post-divorce mediation. Most children found the interviews important and felt they had control over what they said. Older children and those more engaged beforehand reported better participation experiences. Children who found the interview important were more likely to have their parents' case settled out of court.
Key points
- Majority of children found the interview to be important and felt they had procedural control over their statements
- Older age and self-rated pre-interview engagement significantly predicted positive participation experiences
- Family factors like maternal education or familial risk factors had lesser impact on children's experience compared to child factors
- Children who found the interview important were more likely to have their parental case concluded with an out-of-court agreement
- Variations in children's participation experiences existed across the sample
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and conducted only in Denmark, so findings may not generalise to other legal systems or contexts. The study does not establish causal relationships between child participation experience and case outcomes, only associations.
Abstract
ABSTRACT In recent years, interest in ensuring child participation (CP) in family law cases has grown. However, there is limited knowledge about how children experience CP and how various child and family characteristics influence this experience and the outcomes of the family law case. By including survey and administrative register data, this study explores how 1079 children (ages 6–17, M = 10.8, 54% girls) experience CP via child interviews in post‐divorce mediation in family law cases processed by the Danish Agency of Family Law and how differences in these experiences are associated with whether the case is settled out of court. Using linear probability models, the results show that the majority of children found the interview to be important and felt they had procedural control over their statements. Especially older age and self‐rated pre‐interview engagement significantly predicted these outcomes. Family factors, such as maternal educational background or familial risk factors, had a lesser impact on the children's experience of CP but mattered for the parents' mediation process. Children who found the interview to be important were also more likely to have their parental case concluded with an out‐of‐court agreement. Finally, potential reasons and concerns for the variations in children's participation experiences is discussed.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Child interviews in post-divorce mediation within the family law system
- Population
- 1,079 children ages 6-17 (mean 10.8 years, 54% girls) involved in post-divorce mediation cases in Denmark
Key finding
Majority of children found the interview important and felt procedural control