A council overseeing mediators for a new co-parenting regime, aimed at helping separating parents come to an amicable compromise over their children, comes into effect today.

The move was applauded by the Coalition for the Protection of Children, which has provided its own mediation services for 15 years to mitigate the animosity that can arise in the courts.

“This is huge progress from our standpoint,” said Sheelagh Cooper, the founder and chairwoman of the organisation. “We’ve lobbied for years for this — we’re very pleased to see that the Government has finally taken on that responsibility.

“It will be an enormous help to the family courts and enable parents to resolve their differences in a much more humane and effective way rather than having a judge arbitrate the situation.

“Instead, you will have people coming up with their own solutions, which tend to work much better. If both parties hire lawyers and go through the court system, then you can end up with a much longer, drawn-out process that does not always result in a happy ending for either party. It can also be very expensive.

“Our reason for getting involved was essentially to minimise the impact on children of divorcing or separating parents, or parents in dispute.

“Our focus has always been on what is best for them. Parents can often use their children as weapons during a dispute.”

The Coalition will continue to offer its own independent services, but the new council will regulate mediators who would be appointed through the courts.

All of the members of the Co-Parenting Mediation Council are women, according to Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, the Minister of Community, Culture and Sports.

“Women have a level of sensitivity that they can bring,” Ms Gordon-Pamplin said.

Council members, who were appointed for a term of three years, are Kathy Lightbourne-Simmons, the chairwoman, and Eloise Pitts Crick, Honor Desmond-Tetlow, Susan Moore-Williams and Miriam Shaya-King.

The minister added: “We are not discounting the worth of men in the process — the starting point is where we really need to get it right.

“Ultimately we will certainly open the council to other people that might be willing to serve, but I don’t think anybody needs to feel disadvantaged.”

She stressed that the appointment of an all-female council did not mean that male mediators would not be chosen.

The announcement follows through on a promise made in the 2013 Throne Speech, along with legislation approved under the Children Amendment Act 2014.

That framework will enable parties to come to their own child custody or access solutions with the help of a co-parenting mediator, who must be registered with the council.

“It may appear at the outset that the prerequisite to be a member of this council is to be female and have a double-barrelled last name, but in fact these members have a combined background in law, psychology, social work and mediation,” Ms Gordon-Pamplin said. “They also have a wealth of experience dealing with children, families and disputed matters arising out of conflicts within families.

“Part of the mandate of the council will be to undertake reviews and client surveys of co-parenting mediation in Bermuda, and to prepare an annual report for the minister on the practice of co-parenting mediation in Bermuda.

“This will allow for the monitoring of the success of co-parenting mediation.”

The performance of the new initiative is likely to be watched closely.

During November’s parliamentary debate, the measures were criticised by the Opposition as unwieldy, with Progressive Labour Party MP Kim Wilson telling The Royal Gazette that mediators were largely superfluous when parents had already agreed to co-parent — but that now consenting parents would have to be assessed.

However, the minister of the day, Wayne Scott, maintained that the existing system only provided for mediation once a court order had been issued and then breached.