Become a family dispute resolution practitioner

From 1 April 2025, there are 3 key pathways to attaining the competencies and qualifications necessary to become an accredited FDR practitioner.

You will need to provide evidence of one of the following pathways:

• First pathway: you have completed the full Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution (or the higher education provider equivalent).
• Second pathway: you have been assessed as competent in the core units from the Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution (or the higher education provider equivalent) and have an appropriate qualification.
• Third pathway: you have been assessed as competent in the core units from the Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution (or the higher education provider equivalent) and hold accreditation under the Australian Mediator and Dispute Resolution Accreditation Standards (AMDRAS) and have held that status for 2 consecutive years at the time of applying.

If you have been granted a Vocational Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution, or a course certified as equivalent to this, you may still meet the units of competency. If you completed the core units of the Vocational Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolutionor a certified equivalent course, you may apply for accreditation if you meet the other requirements of the second and third pathways.

From 1 April 2025, an old pathway has been removed. You can no longer apply for accreditation on the basis of having been included in the FDR Register before 1 July 2009 and demonstrating competency in the 3 specified units of the (then) Vocational Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution (or higher education provider equivalent) before 1 July 2011.

If you were accredited on this basis, and are still accredited as at 1 April 2025, you can remain accredited without undertaking further study. However, if your accreditation is cancelled, you can no longer rely on this qualification if you want to reapply to be accredited in the future. Any new application would need to comply with the accreditation rules in place at the time you make that application.

Units of competency

The Accreditation Standards are centred on a competency-based qualification: the Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution. This qualification may be delivered by Registered Training Organisation (RTOs), or higher education providers if we have approved their course.

RTOs can deliver the full Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution, or the core units of the Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution. You can search for RTOs on training.gov.au.

Higher education providers can also deliver courses if we have approved their courses as equivalent to the Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution, or the core units of the Graduate Diploma.

The higher education providers that offer courses that we have approved as equivalent to the core units of the Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution are:

• The College of Law
• The University of Western Australia.

For more information about the courses offered, enquire with the higher education provider directly.

If you complete only the core units (or equivalent), you must also provide evidence of an appropriate qualification (as defined in the FDR Regulations) or current accreditation under AMDRAS that has been continuously held for at least 2 years.

If you wish to be considered for recognised prior learning, you need to discuss this option with the training provider. You will need to provide a Statement of Attainment showing the required competencies you have gained or completed in order to be accredited.

We do not make assessments regarding a person’s competency in the required units of the Graduate Diploma.

Qualifications

Under the FDR Regulations, the second pathway to gaining the required qualifications and competencies to be an accredited FDR practitioner requires that, in addition to successfully completing the core units of the Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution, you must also hold a bachelor degree or higher qualification in a field that is relevant to the provision of FDR.

This could be a higher education award in family law (or a related field of law), psychology, social work, conflict management, mediation or dispute resolution.

The higher education award may be from an Australian or overseas provider, if the overseas qualification is recognised in Australia.

Legal practitioners may provide evidence of their formal qualifications or their admittance documents to any Australian Supreme or High Court as evidence of having an appropriate qualification.

If there is any doubt about the extent to which a separate qualification would be related to the provision of FDR, please contact us to discuss.

Australian Mediator and Dispute Resolution Accreditation Scheme (AMDRAS – previously NMAS)

If you apply based on current accreditation under AMDRAS and the core units of competency, once accredited as an FDR practitioner you must maintain your AMDRAS accreditation in order to retain your FDR accreditation. Failure to renew AMDRAS through the appropriate bodies (not this department) could mean your FDR accreditation is cancelled.

From 1 April 2025, if you are relying on AMDRAS accreditation to become accredited (third pathway), your AMDRAS accreditation must be current and must have been held for 2 consecutive years before seeking FDR accreditation. This brings the third accreditation pathway more in line with the additional study requirements in the first or second pathways, by allowing a person to develop skills in general mediation over that 2-year period before moving into a more specialised field of family dispute resolution.

FDR practitioners must have access to a complaints mechanism provided by an approved complaints body. You must provide evidence of access to that complaints mechanism when you apply for accreditation.

We approve complaints bodies after assessing their suitability to act as complaints bodies. Once accredited, you must notify us of any changes to your complaints mechanism with evidence of the change.

Membership of, or coverage by, an approved organisation is a requirement of your ongoing accreditation. Failure to be covered by an approved complaints mechanism will affect your compliance with the FDR Regulations, and can result in your accreditation being suspended or cancelled.

If you intend to provide FDR services both privately and as an employee of a government-funded organisation, the complaints mechanism provided through your government-funded employer may not cover you for your private work. If this is the case, you will need to have access to a second complaints mechanism that covers your private services. You will need to let us know and provide evidence of your coverage by both complaints mechanisms.

Approved complaints bodies

Any organisation or professional body that wishes to act as a complaints mechanism for accredited FDR practitioners must apply to us to be an approved complaints body. This includes organisations that receive Australian Government grant funding to provide FDR. 

We will list approved complaints bodies on this page when they are approved.

Changes from 1 April 2025

All organisations or professional bodies seeking to provide complaints management services must be approved to provide these services in time for FDR practitioners to notify us of any change to their complaints mechanism by 30 September 2025. 

If an organisation that provides an FDR complaints management function before 1 April 2025 does not receive further approval to continue to provide these services by 30 September 2025, any accredited FDR practitioner that previously relied on that service must provide evidence of being covered by an approved complaints mechanism to avoid having their accreditation suspended or cancelled before this date. 

If a government-funded organisation does not seek to be an approved complaints body from 1 April 2025 onwards, all FDR practitioners working for that organisation will need to seek external complaints management services.

You must be covered by professional indemnity insurance for providing FDR services, either through employment or a private organisation. 

You must demonstrate that you are covered by insurance when you apply for accreditation.

Once accredited, you must be covered by professional indemnity insurance for any FDR work that you do.

Laws relating to staff and volunteers working with children and young people vary across Australia. Consult the relevant state or territory legislation to see what is required to comply with the relevant laws. 

You should consider how you are intending to provide FDR services (including face-to-face, online and telephone) when considering the relevant laws.

To be eligible for accreditation as an FDR practitioner, you need to comply with the relevant laws in the state or territory where you will be providing FDR services. Whether you need a Working with Children Check (WWCC) depends on the requirements in each state or territory and their requirements for the type of FDR service being offered. 

If you are required to obtain a WWCC in accordance with the appropriate state or territory legislation, then you must provide a copy of a valid WWCC card or assessment notice with your application for accreditation. 

If you are not required to obtain a WWCC, you will need to state this on the application form.

When applying for accreditation, you must provide a current National Police Check (NPC) that shows that you have not been convicted of offences involving violence to a person or a sex-related offence. Convictions such as this disqualify a person from accreditation as an FDR practitioner. If there is any criminal history that could be considered relevant to your ability to prove that you are a fit and proper person, or if you have a conviction that may exclude you from accreditation, you should contact us to discuss the nature of the history or offence.

NPCs can be conducted by a relevant body accredited by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, or through the state or territory police agency where you live. While the application forms for an NPC may vary in their appearance, where available, the ‘purpose of the check’ should be stated as ‘family dispute resolution practitioner’. This is the only time where you should use the title ‘FDR practitioner’ when not yet accredited.

A police check can only be used for the purpose for which it is obtained: in this case, an application to become an FDR practitioner. Checks done for other purposes may not be accepted.

A check is only ‘current’ as at the date it is conducted. A recent check is important to assess suitability for accreditation. Therefore, checks should be no older than 4 months before you apply for accreditation.

Generally, you do not need to disclose a spent conviction if all of the following apply:

• It was a minor conviction.
• It is over 10 years old.
• You have not re-offended in that 10-year period.

Some convictions can never be spent, such as sexual offences.

You may still wish to notify us of spent convictions as part of the ‘declaration and consent’ element of the application form. This is because even though it is ‘spent’, it may be material to your ability to prove that you are a fit and proper person to perform the functions of an FDR practitioner.

As part of your application, you must provide consent for our Practitioner Accreditation Unit to verify any information, documents or other matters provided in connection with your application.

This could include information about your:

• criminal history
• qualifications
• memberships
• employment status.

We will raise any queries about the information you provide with you so you have the opportunity to respond.

We may request this consent at multiple stages throughout the application process. For example, if we need to request additional documents or information.