Preparing for Child Custody MediationA Practical Guide for Parents in Ventura County, CaliforniaChild custody mediation can feel overwhelming-especially when your relationship with your child feels uncertain or at risk. Many parents enter the process without a clear understanding of what will happen, how mediators evaluate cases, or how their words, behavior, and emotional responses may be interpreted.Preparing for Child Custody Mediation offers a clear, grounded guide for parents navigating custody mediation in both recommending and non-recommending counties. Written by a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and former Child Custody Recommending Counselor for the Ventura County Superior Court, this book draws on years of firsthand experience inside the family court system.Rather than focusing on legal theory or courtroom tactics, this book explains how custody mediation commonly functions in practice. It helps parents understand what mediation is-and what it is not-how mediators conceptualize cases, how credibility is formed, and why emotional regulation often matters as much as the facts being presented. The book addresses how and when children are interviewed, how parents can prepare children without coaching or pressure, and how statements made during mediation can have downstream consequences that parents rarely anticipate.Readers are also guided through the realities of disagreement and impasse, including what it means to object to a recommendation and how courts often interpret resistance versus cooperation. High-conflict cases, allegations, CPS involvement, restraining orders, and move-away requests are explored with clarity and restraint, including a plain-English explanation of the LaMusga factors used in California relocation cases. The final chapters focus on what happens after mediation and how parents can protect their credibility and their child's emotional stability over time.This is not a legal strategy manual and does not offer legal advice. Instead, it provides practical insight into how custody mediation actually works-what commonly helps, what often harms, and how parents can approach the process in a way that prioritizes children's emotional well-being while acknowledging the realities of family court.Whether you are representing yourself or working with an attorney, Preparing for Child Custody Mediation is designed to help you enter mediation informed, grounded, and prepared-so you can make thoughtful decisions during one of the most important moments in your child's life.