"This article examines the use of mediation in three dependency courts and identifies major policy questions that should be addressed regarding the use of mediation in this setting. The courts examined for this article include: the Dependency Court of the Los Angeles Superior Court, the Family Division of the Connecticut Superior Court, and the Dependency Court of Orange County, California. Data used in this study was drawn from 800 Child Protective Services (CPS) cases that were subject to mediation, 600 of which were settled in mediation. Information came from observation of mediations and interviews with the full range of professionals involved in the mediations. Parents and children were not interviewed" (Abstract taken from article).