Mediation may provide the first opportunity to actually engage county agencies in a negotiation of adoption assistance through the involvement of a neutral third party. I have only participated in two recent mediations with two different mediators, so it is too early to draw any firm conclusions. But, what I saw was promising. The mediation process was established years ago as a step to see if a disagreement over monthly adoption assistance payments could be resolved prior to a state administrative hearing. If a mediation fails, parents still have the option of requesting a hearing. Here are a few things I observed.