Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil. (Social Work)
The Commission of Enquiry in the Structure and Function of
the Courts (1983) and subsequent legislation Family Court
Act (Act No. 62 of 1985), Divorce Amendment Act (Act 63
of"1985) and the Mediation Divorce Proceedings Act (Act 63
of 1986) recommended and paved the way for a family court
with attendant social services to be integrated with aspects
of marriage dissolution in South Africa. These proposals
and legislation proved both to be innovative and contentious
and have occasioned much debate, and stimulated and motivated
by the above, t;,e candidate in this dissertation undertakes
I
an examination of the parameters of the social services
envisaged as regards divorce services, with particular
reference to the construct of mediation, its significance,
technology and feasibility.
The research is formulated and structured around the
research goals and objectives of acquiring information of
an academic as well as a practice nature, with a view to
increasing the knowledge base of such service ideology, in
order to more effectively evaluate the need for the rendering
of such service. The research questions formulated to-provide'
both the information and the resultant answers are those
that relate to the concept of mediation and the practice
thereof; the range and type of social services in a divorce
court service; the working of family law systems in other
parts of the world and their comparison to proposals for
South Africa; the integration of the social services within
a court system and the professional equipment of the staff.
needed to perform such services. In order to acquire the
information to address the issues, the methodology embarked
on by the candidate involved the undertaking of a literature
study of the field of mediation and family/law courts; correspondence
with social services and judico/legal bodies in the
United States of America, England, Canada, Australia, New...