Family Transformation Through Divorce and Remarriage

One marriage in three is likely to end in divorce. One in seven families is likely to be a single-parent household. One in eight families is probably a stepfamily. These are the present estimates. Many of the children of these families will be referred to child and family guidance clinics with divorce-related problems, while others, whose parent(s) are often living near the poverty line, may be considered to be seriously at risk through neglect or abuse. The past twenty years have seen the emergence of family therapy, as well as the development of family research, some of it related to divorce, stepfamilies and the effects of divorce on children. Socio-legal studies have also been a recent, though separate development. In Family Transformations Through Divorce and Remarriage , Margaret Robinson integrates these two strands of research with the application of systems theory, the basis of family therapy. This book is the first to look so thoroughly at the complete divorce-remarriage-stepfamily cycle in the context of the demographic data, the legal processes and the systemic theoretical framework. For each phase of the cycle, the author describes the stages of development summarises the relevant research and illustrates the effects on family members with case examples. In doing so, she discusses the various ways of intervening with families during the divorce process and the differing orientations of the professionals involved. In the last phase of the cycle, she introduces the concept of the good enough' post-divorce and remarried family, attempting to define it and provide appropriate guidelines for families and practitioners. Finally, she outlines some of the present research proposals which are likely to change both attitudes and practice in relation to families during divorce.