Relationship breakdown costs the state £44 billion per year.
Around 45% of marriages in England and Wales are expected to end in divorce and one in three children will see their parents separate before they reach their 18th birthday.
Despite being common this doesn’t lessen the impact; relationship breakdown causes profound stress and unhappiness for both children and adults affecting both emotional and physical health.
Research shows that in addition to the legal and practical advice, there is a real need to help separating parents at the earliest possible stage understand and manage their feelings, and in turn their behaviour towards each other, better.
“Family lawyers can’t afford to be just legal advisors. We need to be helping clients deal with the myriad of issues they face at the time of separation by involving other professionals at the right time and helping clients find the right process for them.”
(David Allison, Chair of Resolution The Review, Issue 146, May/June 2010)
In 2009 OnePlusOne published When Couples Part: Understanding the consequences for adults and children. This was a major review of international research literature on the impact of relationship breakdown on both the physical and psychological health of adults and children and the consequences for parenting, parent-child relationships and child well being.
