This article reviews the challenges facing California's court-based child custody and visitation mediation program, 25 years after the state made mediation mandatory for such cases prior to litigation. The authors report that the program has been widely successful, with more than 100,000 cases being mediated each year. The program also has an annual average of 44 percent of cases reaching full agreement in mediation and almost 90 percent of mediation participants reporting satisfaction with the system.

Along with these achievements, however, the authors note that the program is facing a dramatically increasing workload, with mediators working on an average of three cases every day. This workload also involves increasingly complex cases. More than half of the cases that are referred to the program include some indicator of domestic violence, which requires certain procedures be followed to protect the victim. The program is also facing a greater need for English translation, as the state's population grows more diverse and more mediation participants have limited English proficiency. Finally, the authors also note that nearly 70 percent of mediated cases involve at least one unrepresented party, leading to a greater need for legal services and self-help legal resources. The authors suggest the courts must work together with their communities in order to solve these problems and maintain the success of the mediation program.