What is the history of family mediation in the U.S.? When, how, and why did it start? Many people thought that family mediation would become the first choice approach to divorce in the 1980’s. Why did that not happen? Why are there still so many people who have never heard of family mediation? Why does that matter? What makes a family mediator a professional? Why did the founders of the Academy of Professional Family Mediators (APFM) decide to form the organization? What are APFM’s current goals? How will the public benefit from APFM’s work? How common is it for people to get divorced without hiring lawyers to represent them? Five founding members of APFM, one guest at a time, discuss these questions and more.