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Divorce and Children

Sfla.co.uk has a number of articles on helping children through a divorce, parenting after divorce, residence orders and parental alienation syndrome. Choose an article below.

Divorce and Children

1. How and What to Tell Your Children about Divorce - Here are some helpful tips to use to make sure that your children understand as much as they need to about divorce, regardless of age.



2. Effects of Divorce on Children - There is little that is more traumatic for a child than the divorce of their parents.



3. How to Minimize the Effect of Your Divorce on Your Children - In a divorce, parents need to develop a working partnership with each other so they may effectively parent the children.



4. Biggest Mistakes Divorcing Couples Make When Dealing with Children - The biggest mistake a couple can make when divorcing is to allow the child to see hatred between them.



5. How to Help Children Cope with Moving to a New Home - Children have to leave behind familiar homes, schools, friends, and playgrounds, not to mention a parent.



6. Guidelines for Managing Contact - Here are some tips for seeing that your kids grow up happily, and have regular contact with both parents.



7. Effects of Domestic Violence on Children - Abuse of any kind has a detrimental effect on the children in the family, even if they are not direct targets of the abuse.

Parenting after Divorce

1. How to Be a Successful Single Parent - Being a single parent is no easy task.



2. How to Co-Parent with an Ex-Spouse - After your divorce, you and your spouse will hopefully both want to still be a very active part of your children’s lives.



3. How to Deal With a Difficult Ex-Spouse - Divorce does not automatically put an end to strife between the formally married couple, and parenting issues may not unfold easily.



4. Dealing with Christmas & Other Holidays Post-Divorce - Holidays can be difficult to get through after a divorce, especially if you no longer have a close bond with your ex-spouse’s family.



5. How to Build Trust and Acceptance with Stepchildren - Here are some suggestions for effectively getting along with your stepchildren.

Residence Orders

1. Section 8 Orders - Section 8 Orders are of special interest to separated parents as they deal with residence and contact.



2. How Is Residence Determined? - A Residence order settles with whom the child lives and not to whom the child belongs.



3. What is the Welfare Checklist? - The welfare of the child is of utmost importance to the court; any questions the court has surrounding a child and their upbringing must adhere to the Welfare Checklist which is found in section one (1) of The Children Act, 1989.



4. At What Age Can A Child Make His Or Her Mind Up About Residence? - Probably, the least consulted persons of interest in a family break-up are the children.



5. Parental Responsibility Order - In the Children’s Act 1989, Parental Responsibility is defined as “All the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority, which by law a parent of a child has in relation to a child and his property.”



6. Contact Orders - A contact order basically requires the person the child is living with to allow the child to stay or visit the person bearing the said order, or at least for the bearer and the child to keep in touch.



7. Hague Convention (On The Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction) - With UK residents making over 40 million visits abroad in one year and over 10 million British nationals living overseas, the continuing increase in international child custody disputes is not surprising.

Parental Alienation Syndrome

1. What is PAS? - Among family counselors and family law professionals, Parental Alienation Syndrome is a familiar term, but outside of these disciplines it has rarely been heard of.



2. Personality of Alienators - Parental Alienation Syndrome, or PAS, is when one parent, usually the mother, systematically degrades the other parent to alienate the child or children from the other parent and slowly have the children reject the other parent.



3. Symptoms of PAS - The purpose of the alienation is usually to gain or retain custody without the involvement of the other parent.



4. PAS Risk Factors - The primary risk factor for PAS is a messy divorce.



5. Characteristic Traits of Alienated Children - When a custody case becomes a battlefield of emotions, children are often forced to side with one parent amidst the anger stemming from both sides.



6. What Can a Court Do About PAS? - Research and applied knowledge of PAS in the UK legal system appears minimal, though this does seem to be slowly changing.



7. Dealing With An Alienator - In some cases, the parent retaining custody of the children of the marriage will attempt to alienate the other parent from the children’s lives; this act is called Parental Alienation Syndrome, or PAS.



8. Motivation for Alienation - The usual motivation for PAS is to retain custody of the children without the involvement of the other parent for many reasons.



9. Protecting Children from Alienation - Parental Alienation syndrome is still a controversial topic and there is still debate whether this should be classified as an official mental health disorder in the DSM IV.

Child Maintenance

1. How Is Child Maintenance Determined? - The court takes several different factors into account when deciding how much money each parent should contribute to the welfare and well-being of their children.



2. The Child Support Agency - Seeking child maintenance can be difficult for some parents.



3. When Does Child Maintenance End? - The circumstances of the birth and life of a child determines when child maintenance ends after a divorce.