Divorce can be a very distressing event. It is possible for young people to be overlooked during the process…parents may feel their children are old enough and ‘ugly’ enough (as my mum would say) to deal with it.

But they can be very wrong; it can sometimes be more difficult for those who understand divorce for what it is…’ A complete or radical severance of closely connected things’. A study entitled; Broken families, lonely ends shows how ‘adult children’ (aged 16+) were ‘far less likely’ to report to a parent for comfort – so they may feel the distress, but feel they have no one the share it with.

Research by the ESRC entitled: Children’s Perspectives & Experience of the Divorce Process showed how children can be put under enormous strain during divorce; taking on roles which should be beyond their maturity; ‘as carer, conciliator, advice giver, and support provider’ and the participants within the study often felt ‘excluded’ from the decisions which directly affected them and wish to be ‘included’.

The effect Divorce can have is considered as a ‘crisis’ in children’s lives which can arouse feelings of ‘shock, disbelief and emotional distress’. Most of you have either directly experienced the negative feelings aroused from divorce, whether it be from your own family, or that of a friend or a family member. Many feel divorce is not a huge deal – after all; No ones died! Wrong! It can feel as if something or someone has died. It is a very common occurrence and has grown immensely since the 1980’s. There is good news however; it now appears to be falling – here are some surprising stats from Divorce online:

There were 141,750 divorces last year compared with 153,399 in 2004. The last time the figure was so low was in 2000.

Marriages which ended in divorce were lasting - on average - slightly longer at 11.6 years in 2005, compared to 11.5 years in 2004.

Children were involved in more than half of all divorces in 2005, with 53% of cases including at least one child under 16 - the same as the year before.

Across the whole of the UK, divorce fell by 7% to 155,052 compared with 167,138 in 2004

It seems that it is the parents’ responsibility to support their children and attempt to alleviate the strain caused on their lives. – Do you agree or disagree with this? How do you feel about divorce? – Do you feel that teenagers are frequently overlooked by parents with support provision?