At GUfC, we believe that a better understanding of what happens when grandchildren and grandparents' relationships are forcibly interrupted is essential to help law and policy makers in the UK.

 

We are therefore supporting the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Fragmented Families research in England & Wales that seeks to understand grandparent, family mediator and legal practitioner experiences in family mediation and the family courts as the (safe) grandparent seeks to re-establish their relationship with their grandchild.

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If you are a grandparent or a family mediator, please contact Dr Sam Davey as per the invitation to the right. She will arrange to informally meet you, and understands the challenges faced by grandparents in talking about distressing family issues. All information shared within research interviews is confidential and research ethics' approval is in place.

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This research is led by Dr Sam Davey, Law Lecturer at Essex Law School and Dr Charlotte Bendall, Associate Professor, Birmingham Law School. Both have published a chapter on the topic of grandparents in family mediation in Dr Davey's edited collection 'Grandparents and the law' (2022).

 

You do not need to be together (grandparent and mediator) for the research interview. Dr Davey is very happy to see mediators where they are not currently mediating in a grandparent-grandchild situation, but have experience of it.

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Interested legal practitioner? Click to 5-min read article in ‘Fragmented Families’: Seeking Practitioner Insights into Private Law Matters Where Grandparents are Pursuing Contact with Grandchildren’ - Today's Family Lawyer (todaysfamilylawyer.co.uk)