What Is Voice of Child and How Does It Work?

When parents are in dispute, children are often the ones carrying the most, quietly and without anyone checking in. Voice of Child is a process designed to change that.

It is not a process in which children are asked what they want. It is not an opportunity for children to choose between their parents, or to deliver a verdict that gets used in proceedings. Voice of Child is something quieter and more important: a skilled adult taking the time to understand what a child is actually experiencing.

I meet with children and young people individually, usually for one session. I work in age-appropriate ways: for younger children, drawing or play; for adolescents, conversation. My goal is to understand what the situation feels like from the inside. What is this child carrying? How is this showing up in their daily life?

I bring that back to the parents, not as a list of demands or preferences, but as a picture. My hope is that it helps both parents shift their focus from the dispute between them to the child in front of them. That shift is often where real movement begins.

Since August 2023, an amendment to the Family Dispute Resolution Act 2013 requires that children who are the subject of a family dispute are given reasonable opportunities to participate in decisions affecting them. Voice of Child is one of the primary ways this is achieved in FDR mediation.

I work with children from age six. My own experience of family separation began at age five. That shapes everything about how I approach this work.