How Relationships Australia can help you
Relationship Support Services
Counselling is available to parents and children to assist children after separation. This can be supplemented by reading material to help parents, to increase their awareness of issues faced by children and how to respond to them.
Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) is available to assist parents to resolve conflict that affects children and help to make appropriate arrangements for the care of children after separation; this includes development of parenting plans. Depending on their age and situation, children can be interviewed by specially-trained staff as part of FDR to find out how the separation process is affecting them and what their wishes are.
The Children's Contact Service makes it possible for contact arrangements to take place with a minimum of stress both for children and their parents. The Children's Contact Service provides a safe child-focussed environment in which children can be handed from one parent to the other without the parents meeting. In some situations, parents spend time with their children under supervision at the service location.
Relationship Support Courses
Relationships Australia offers Relationship Skills Courses and Family Skills/ Parenting Courses that may be useful for parents at this time, such as 'What About the Children?' or 'Focus on Kids' - a two-hour seminar on the questions and concerns parents may have on how separation affects children. Sessions like these are available in each Australian state or territory.
Separation Booklets
Relationships Australia has published free booklets to help men and women who are going through separation and divorce. The booklets have been written to:
- help separating men and women make sense of their feelings
- help guide them through some constructive choices
- raise their awareness of some services that may help
You can download the booklets and other resources now:
Women and Separation booklet (pdf)
Men and Separation booklet (pdf)
Migrant Men and Separation - English (pdf)
Migrant Men and Separation - Arabic (pdf)
Further Information and Resources
- Parenting Plan: "Share the care - Collaborative parenting apart" (pdf)
This Relationships Australia Parenting Plan Booklet is a resource to help separating parents work out arrangements for the care of their children. - Parenting Plan Checklist (pdf) - a checklist of questions that will help separating parents fill out the Parenting Plan.
- What about the Children? - an information booklet for parents to help their children cope with separation.
- Family Separation: A Guide for Teens - advice for teens coping with separation, published by the Child Support Agency.
- "Me and My Money" (pdf) - information booklet for separated parents published by the Child Support Agency.