By the way, someone needs to let spammers know there’s a big difference between mediation and medication – I’ve got one email account associated with my old blog, Online Guide to Mediation, that continues to be inundated with spam related to medication and the medical profession. Maybe some day those guys will learn to spell.

Now that you mention this other, graver issue, however, I must say I share in part your concern. I think it’s one thing to permit divorcing couples to arbitrate disputes arising out of the division of assets and debts (although I still think that a court should have the right to review an arbitrator’s decision, and I would be deeply troubled by the use of arbitration in cases in which domestic violence is present). But it’s another entirely to turn over decisions involving children to a private forum for decision making, and I’m not terribly reassured by the court’s standard of review (although I’d like to hear a matrimonial lawyer from New Jersey weigh in on this).

Nonetheless, I think my point about public education remains relevant, Vickie. I wonder to what extent people understand what binding arbitration signifies and what rights they give up when they consent to it. Many people, this journalist included, understand only imperfectly what arbitration is, let alone the nuances and differences that distinguish various forms of ADR.

Thanks for raising this additional point, my rabble-rousing friend!