Is separation and divorce harmful to children?

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    DrMDK
    Excellent series I will link this series to my office website DrMDK

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<span>An experienced family-law attorney, John Spiegel has devoted his practice exclusively to family mediation since 1996. John is a graduate of Yale Law School and has been active as a mediation trainer and presenter in Maryland and nationally. He served in 2003 and 2004 as President of the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution (MCDR), a statewide ADR practitioners’ organization, and in 2005 – 2008 as President of the Montgomery County Divorce Roundtable, an interdisciplinary professional organization. John has published articles on mediation and law reform issues and has lobbied on behalf of these issues before the Maryland General Assembly. In 2001, he received recognition as a Certified Mediator from MCDR. The father of four children, John views mediation as a continuation of his legal work on behalf of children and families.</span>

Is separation and divorce harmful to children?

 

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Host: Is separation and divorce harmful to children?

John Spiegel: Separation and divorce is almost always sad for everybody, for the parents as well as for the children. But it does not have to be devastating. It depends on how it is handled. There is research that is reassuring that indicates that all human beings are resilient emotionally, children and parents, where it is like we are created to land on our feet and we will if we are given a chance.

The research also shows that the thing that can be very harmful to children is exposure to conflict between their parents. Obviously, if children by the time they say reach my office in mediation have already been exposed to lot of fighting between parents that can not be changed, but what I ask my clients is to make a commitment that from this moment on, your children will not see the two of you fight, they will not even hear one end of a contentious phone call between the two of you.

I say to people one of the goals of mediation is that this will be a place away from your children where conflict can be addressed and resolved, so that your children will never have to hear that again.

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