To our members and supporters,

FDRIO’s diverse membership includes not just Mediators but Lawyers, Chartered Business Valuators, Divorce Coaches, Certified Divorce Financial Planners, Paralegals, Law Students, Social Workers, Mental Health professionals and others.

Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) professionals are frontline family law service professionals, who, because of our diversity of professional expertise, are uniquely aware of the inherent complexities of family law and the provision of family law services.

As FDR professionals, we often find ourselves in the middle – in between clients, lawyers, other family law service providers, and family law processes. In our capacity as mediators, arbitrators, and parenting coordinators we serve both clients in a family dispute and as coaches and financial professionals, we may serve one or both.

We can serve parties in a family dispute not only related to the breakdown of a relationship but all other areas including cohabitation, marriage, adoption, child protection, fertility and elder. We can meet these service demands by networking and collaborating with a range of family law service professionals who share in a singular goal – meeting the individual family’s needs.

As I’ve said before, Family Dispute Resolution is more than any one of our disciplines, it’s about being able to provide the right solutions to ensure each family has choice.

Whether families can safely participate in a mediation process, require the finality and more formal process of arbitration, or can benefit from the unique mediation-arbitration process allowing them to mediate what they can, and arbitrate what they can’t, I believe the demand for appropriate (and available) family dispute resolution services is now greater than ever.

The recent news of our collaboration with OAFM is a testament to FDRIO’s evolution. As two distinct organizations, we will refer to each other, and in doing so we will build both organizations up. Our evolution is a commitment to:

• Ensure and promote appropriately trained and certified professionals.
• Create awareness of all FDR solutions.
• Speak with one voice on FDR advocacy initiatives.
• Provide opportunities for our members to expand their network, training, and certifications based on each organizations focus and strengths.

FDRIO is committed to promoting and growing the FDR field by continuously leading and participating in the charge toward normalizing equitable family dispute resolution processes.  Thank you for joining us in this pursuit.

Julie Gill, FDRIO Board Chair