e system is a maze. According to Cottam (1996, June), "status offender cases are notorious for distracting courts and court personnel from more serious and violent juvenile offenses" while "adversarial judicial proceedings may have the result of escalating rather than resolving the problem" (pp. 25-26). In fact, perhaps a major of juvenile arrests are never adjudicated. Chown and Markham said "many thousands of juvenile cases are handled too informally, are diverted to a variety of programs, or are just ignored" until the youth commits another offense (p. 3).
During the 1980s, Schichor and Sechrest (1998, Spring) reported that the conviction grew in many communities and juvenile courts across the nation that "increasing juvenile crime requires solutions based upon prevention and intervention at an early stage" (p. 27). One such solution is mediation which Baker (1996, Summer) said by 1995 was mandated in one context or another in 33 states for assisting juvenile courts in disposing of cases (p. 899).
Mediation in Dependency Proceedings. According to Ventrell (1998, Fall), "the dependency court is that part of the juvenile court which handles child mistreatment cases" (p. 18). In those cases, the court may be charged with the responsibility of determining what arrangements, such as placement of the child with one or the other parent, other relatives, or in a foster care home, psychological counselling of the child, arrangements for visitation, etc. are needed in the best interests of the child, the family and society. In other cases, the results of dysfunctional or conflict-laden familial relationships may result in antisocial behavior by the child. Ventrell said that dependency courts often do "not produce adequate outcomes for many children" (p. 18).
The purpose of a dependency mediation program is in California "to provide a problem-solving forum for all interested persons to develop a plan in the best interests of the c...