Child Participation in the Family Law System

In recent years, interest in ensuring child participation (CP) in family law cases has grown. However, there is limited knowledge about how children experience CP and how various child and family characteristics influence this experience and the outcomes of the family law case. By including survey and administrative register data, this study explores how 1079 children (ages 6-17, M = 10.8, 54% girls) experience CP via child interviews in post-divorce mediation in family law cases processed by the Danish Agency of Family Law and how differences in these experiences are associated with whether the case is settled out of court. Using linear probability models, the results show that the majority of children found the interview to be important and felt they had procedural control over their statements. Especially older age and self-rated pre-interview engagement significantly predicted these outcomes. Family factors, such as maternal educational background or familial risk factors, had a lesser impact on the children's experience of CP but mattered for the parents' mediation process. Children who found the interview to be important were also more likely to have their parental case concluded with an out-of-court agreement. Finally, potential reasons and concerns for the variations in children's participation experiences is discussed.