Parental separation study shines light on children's thoughts, feelings
When couples separate, the phrase “what’s best for the kids” is used as the guiding light. But new research shows the ways we’ve been getting it wrong – and how we can correct the course.
University of Melbourne law professor Belinda Fehlberg, Australian National University professor Bruce Smyth – a family law social scientist of three decades – and family sociologists Dr Monica Campo and Flinders University professor Kris Natalier recently completed a study on the meaning of home for children and young people after parental separation.
The study asked 68 children aged eight to 18 what home meant to them and how they might make a home. Its key conclusion found relationships with people they loved, and feeling safe, were central to children and young people’s sense of home. Relationships with parents, built and maintained through spending time together and doing everyday things, were especially important...