1. Introduction
Large numbers of children are experiencing changes in their living arrangements due to their parents' decision to end their marriage and/or common law partnership. Recent statistics inform us that 15.7 percent of Canadian children under 12 years of age are now residing with one parent,1 while an additional 8.6 percent live either in a reconstituted family or with adults who are not their biological parents2 (Marcil-Gratton, 1998). Marcil-Gratton's (1993) analysis of earlier surveys (the 1984 Family History Survey and the 1990 General Social Survey) further demonstrated that 25 percent of adults had experienced at least one disruption of their parents' relationship and that about half of these episodes took place prior to respondents' tenth birthday.
A growing body of literature documents the many ways in which children are affected by, and in turn respond to, the disruption of their parents' union. There is a consensus among social scientists that the transitions accompanying the breakup of parents are often replete with turmoil for the children. Researchers have found evidence that the divorce or separation of their parents is related to an increase in the incidence of emotional, psychological, behavioural and physiological problems for the children involved, and that many of these negative outcomes have long term, and sometimes life-long effects (Cochran and Vitz, 1983; Kalter, 1987; Fulton, 1979).
The question of what happens to children after their parents relationship ends is a complex and multi-dimensional one that is currently attracting intense scrutiny by policy-makers in Canada. In March, 1998, The Special Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons on Child Custody and Access (SJCCCA) began public hearings across Canada. This Committee, which is due to release its final report at the end of November, 1998, is mandated to "assess the need for a more child-centred approach to family law policies and practices that would emphasize joint parental responsibilities and child-focused parenting arrangements based on children's needs and best interests" (Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access, 1998). As such, it has focused its meetings, to a large extent, on discussions of a wide variety of legal and sociological issues relating to the effects of various forms of custody and/or parental access arrangements following the dissolution of their parents' relationships.3
- 1With the mother in 93 percent of the cases.
- 2Marcil-Gratton's (1998) analysis is based on the results of the first cycle of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Human Resources Development Canada and Statistics Canada, 1995).
- 3See minutes from the public consultation meetings of the SJCCCA, Dec. 11, 1997 to June 15, 1998.
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