Hong Kong Cutting Our ‘Children's’ Coats According to Our Cloth: Hong Kong Family Mediation Regarding Children's Arrangements in the Context of Culture and Law

Abstract

As a famous centre of tailoring expertise, Hong Kong is well versed in cutting our coats to suit our cloth. Family mediation provides a process option which is both tailored and responsive for Hong Kong families experiencing the transition through family separation. Hong Kong family mediation practice to help parents construct new realities for their children has evolved to take into account the cultural context in Hong Kong and the legal parameters of family law. In Hong Kong, a family mediator may work with married parties as they divorce or separate to make arrangements in respect of their children and finances (asset division, spousal maintenance (if any) and children's maintenance). For unmarried parties, it is not unusual for family mediators to work with parents in relation to their children and any joint assets/child maintenance arrangements. In either case, the court will consider the arrangements for children and, if approved, these will be converted into consent orders both in relation to custody/access and also maintenance. For married parties the financial arrangements (asset division/spousal maintenance (if any)) will also be turned into a separate consent order in respect of finances. Therefore, the legal framework in Hong Kong informs and delineates the parameters for the work of family mediators. How does the legal and cultural landscape in Hong Kong shape the experience of parties in family mediation when seeking to resolve arrangements for their children? Although society and family life is changing, Hong Kong's legislation regarding custody and access remains the same, and recent attempts to modernise the regime in respect of children have met with resistance (section 1). This has led to stasis in the law affecting children in Hong Kong and has directly impacted the way in which family mediators must work with parties. The peculiar circumstances of Hong Kong's history and population, and the existing legal framework have produced a unique blend of modernity and anachronism (section 2). What do mediators need to take into account when supporting families through transition, and how do these considerations impact the practice of family mediation in Hong Kong in relation to arrangements for children? (section 3).