Mediating disputes involving elders

The New York Times' blog, "The New Old Age," is very helpful with topics related to care, health, and family issues of aging. Recently, the topic was settling disputes involving elders through mediation. While mediation has been used for many years for family law or labor law disputes, it is blossoming into a new specialty for issues of aging. Issues may present in any of a number of relationships: among children of an elderly parent, between an elder and a caregiver, between an elder and a child.

I previously posted about elder law mediation as presented in a public radio story.

The post from "The New Old Age" includes these cautions and suggestions for families who may be considering mediation for such a dispute:

A mediator generally should be trained in such subjects as the physical and mental effects of aging and how to communicate effectively with the elderly. But in a field with no national credentialing and no standard approach, potential clients should be wary before asking an outsider to sit in on a dispute.

Start with National Eldercare Mediation Network, . . . which posts profiles of elder mediators in all 50 states. Another Web site, Mediate.com, also allows prospective clients to search elder mediators by state.