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The article presents a model of mediation practice emerged from a public resource that integrates the needs expressed by participants and observed by the mediators, not normally considered as part of the "classic" mediation model and that, however, yield results in practice. It is the mediation model as accompanying decision-making processes to family changes. Moreover, the article refers to the need for a redefinition of mediation in the professional context in which it is registered, carried out by the mediators themselves, as the only way to "define" clearly the work actually performed and provided, thus, coordination, interaction and communication with other actors who are part of the area of family support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family Meeting Points started in 1994 with the objective of being of use for families in a breaking-off situation, where the professionals appointed offer intervention, acting in an objective and neutral way, taking into account the minor's interest at all times. The task fulfilled in these Meeting Points is closely related to the judicial process, as the Courts that work in family matters set up the action framework of the Meeting Point with the establishment of a visits system. The standardization of Meeting Points as a social resort is reflected at the very instant it is requested by any of the parts, thus becoming a precaution tool for problem situations and being used more and more often by Lawyers, Judges and Magistrates. Meeting Points are used, not only as the end of separation-divorce proceedings, but even at the beginning of the dispute (previous or provisional measures) as a way to minimize the effects of the break-up in minors and to assure or facilitate the parental relationship in situations where any of the parents suffer from any type of disease or addiction. This approach is meant to understand that the intervention carried out in Family Meeting Points is a preventive quality, limited in time, which promotes autonomy and coparentality of the families, in order to achieve a visits system independent from these services, and at the same time, positive for the minor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]