Separation or divorce should not end a parent’s involvement and responsibility towards their children, but should be viewed as a start of a new commitment to the well-being children.
An unfortunate truism is that children are often the innocent victims of separation/divorce, often because of parents neglecting the needs children, using the children to their own advantage, or as a tool for punishing their spouse.
Children do not need or deserve to be used this way. Whilst parents can decide to go to battle against each other, they should be careful not to knowingly or unknowingly enlist children as their soldiers, as too often it is the soldiers who suffer the greater and long lasting injury.
Parents whom have separated must place the needs of their children of paramount importance. The emotional well-being of children can be protected if parents remember that children have a right to:
Counselling should be considered essential in any dispute involving children or where children are becoming either directly or indirectly involved in their parent’s dispute.
*(published in Inner Western Courier)
