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Supporting children and young people through parental separation and divorce. By Melinda Phillips In Australia nearly one in two marriages end in separation and divorce.

Supporting children and young people through parental separation and divorce

This directly impacts many children in our schools and adults in our workplaces, parishes and social networks, and quite possibly our own family too. Coping with the family changes the result can be challenging for children and their parents, and for those supporting the family including relatives and friends, work colleagues and school staff. About blended families. About blended families.

About blended families

What Is a Divorce? (for Kids) - Nemours KidsHealth. Do you know someone whose parents are divorced?

What Is a Divorce? (for Kids) - Nemours KidsHealth

Are your parents separated or divorced? Chances are that you can answer yes to one — or maybe both — of those questions. And you are not alone! Blended Family Problems. Source Approximately 65% of remarriages include children from past marriages, which means the problems of a past family system sometimes cross over to a new one.

Blended Family Problems

While family conflict happens in all types of families, blended families have many unique family challenges that many people are unaware of until they start dealing with them. Knowing what to expect in a blended family can help family members address issues before they spiral out of control, or avoid these problems altogether. Common Issues in Blended Families Although blended families can face some difficult challenges, there are many options when it comes to finding an appropriate solution that works best for your family. Key Statistics About Children of Divorced Parents. Divorce is often a pivotal experience for children, at times changing the entire trajectory of their lives.

Key Statistics About Children of Divorced Parents

In fact, from a child's perspective, divorce represents a loss of stability, and more importantly, a loss of family. Consequently, it's not surprising that the shock of divorce causes a range of emotional responses in kids including everything from anger and frustration to anxiety and sadness. But the impact of divorce is not limited to emotions. Divorce also impacts kids physically, psychologically, and academically. Following is a closer look at the impact divorce can have on children—even when divorce needs to happen.

Physical Effects. What Is a Divorce? Question: What is a divorce?

What Is a Divorce?

People have many questions about divorce, what it involves, how to proceed with a divorce and so on. Therefore, I will try to answer some of the most common questions people seem to have when faced with divorce. Kidsinthehouse. Transcription: One of the most challenging things that I work with in my private practice is helping families who are going through divorce and children often feel torn in the middle between two parents, feeling that they have to align themselves with one or the other and I try to help the parents to understand this by talking to them about the fact that children have both real external relationship with each parent and also that they have in an internal relationship that they’ve internalized both their mother and their father and asking them to choose is really like asking them to choose between two parts of themselves.

kidsinthehouse

The Impact of Divorce on Young Children and Adolescents. Source: Fizkes/Shutterstock In response to my blog about single parenting adolescents, I received this email request: "I was wondering if you could address the effects of divorce on very small children.

The Impact of Divorce on Young Children and Adolescents

" What I can do is try to distinguish some general ways that children (up through about age 8 or 9) often react to parental divorce in contrast to how adolescents (beginning around ages 9-13) often respond. Understand that I am talking here about tendencies, not certainties. Divorce introduces a massive change into the life of a boy or girl no matter what the age. Witnessing loss of love between parents, having parents break their marriage commitment, adjusting to going back and forth between two different households, and the daily absence of one parent while living with the other, all create a challenging new family circumstance in which to live.

Article continues after advertisement The dependent child's short-term reaction to divorce can be an anxious one. Building Resilience in Children of Divorce. Stephen Carter, Ph.D., C.Psych.

Building Resilience in Children of Divorce

Carol Chandler, M.Ed., C.Psych. Leonard L. Stewin, Ph.D., C.Psych. March 20, 2002 Presented at the inaugural meeting of the Alberta Roundtable on Family LawHelping Children and Their Families Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress – such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. The Concept of Resilience According to the American Psychological Association (2002) resilience is an ordinary characteristic of individuals, not an extraordinary one.

Parents play a critical role in the child’s development as a child’s first social experiences take place within the context of the family (Fleming, 2002). 5 positive lessons children learn from divorce. Many parents worry their divorce will negatively effect their children.

5 positive lessons children learn from divorce

However, one psychologist says divorce can have a positive impact on kids. Your parents, a best friend, perhaps even yourself—most Canadians have had some experience with divorce. In 2008, Statistics Canada estimated that 41 percent of Canadian marriages would end in divorce before their 30th wedding anniversaries. Despite this forecast, the actual number of divorces in Canada declined between 2007 and 2008—the most recent years studied by Statistics Canada—but the heartbreak that accompanies a divorce is still very real for many Canadian children. Thankfully, not all kids grow up to carry scars from their parents' split. 1. Dr. Often, children of divorce grow up having to develop coping strategies that their non-divorce counterparts wouldn't encounter until years later, if at all. 2. 3.

Dr. 4. "I'm not surprised that's something Gabrielle's proud of," says Dr. 5. Like Tara, the kids in Dr. Positive Effects Of Divorce On Children. There are a lot of people who fully believe that a divorce only has negative effects on the children involved. Contrary to this popular belief that divorce always has a negative impact on the children involved, divorce isn’t always a negative thing. Of course during almost any divorce there is going to be some confusion and adjustment for the entire family. A divorce can be a very unpleasant, draining, and drawn out process. However, even taking all of the negatives into account, divorce can often be the best thing for everyone involved, including the children. If a marriage is in high conflict and creating a toxic living environment for the children, exposing them to violent actions like physical and or verbal abuse, a divorce can be a positive for the children being exposed to such behavior.

Psychology Today Australia. No doubt about it—divorce can be devastating for kids, setting a distorted example of a healthy partnership. But many children of divorce not only adjust well to family breakups, they develop thriving relationships in their wake. I interviewed 28 college students to see how their parents' divorces influenced their romantic lives, and found they were equally split into three groups: "Modelers" tended to copy the dysfunctional behaviors they witnessed in their parents' marriage, causing conflict in their own relationships. "Strugglers" were cautious about trusting others and unsure of what to expect from a partner. But another class of students, the "reconcilers," actively strove to learn from their parents' problems and thus had more successful subsequent relationships. article continues after advertisement The group students fell into depended on the type of connection they had with their parents, post-divorce.

The Psychological Effects of Divorce on Kids. As a marriage dissolves, some parents find themselves asking questions like, “Should we stay together for the kids?” Other parents find divorce is their only option. And while all parents may have many worries on their mind—from the future of their living situation to the uncertainty of the custody arrangement—they may worry most about how the children will deal with the divorce. Coping with Separation and Divorce. Single Parent Families. Gale - Product Login. Gale - Product Login.