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Human service professionals may experience conflict about using their authority and the power that accompanies it when they must reconcile their humanitarian values about practice with requirements and expectations of the environmental context in which they operate. The author suggests that the political and economic environment, gender issues, and the impact of these on the exchange between client and worker are factors that cause uneasiness for practitioners in exercising authority.

AbstractThe notion of fairness is fundamental to the practice of divorce mediation. In this paper, fairness is discussed in terms of the respective contributions of the legal and mental health professions as they converge into the field of family mediation. A systems perspective is explored as an integrating framework, and guidelines and criteria for determining fairness are articulated.

AbstractThe authors look at role dilemmas faced by mediators in both court‐referred and privately referred situations. The question raised is whether a mediator may ethically mediate with a couple after having functioned as a therapist for one or both of the parties, or whether after mediation the professional should ever serve as therapist for either or both parties. The authors discuss the existing professional standards, the differences in role conflict for attorneys and therapists, and case examples.