Distress among parents and children involved in contact cases is "worryingly high", even in the very early stages of the court process, new research has found.
The report, which looked at 59 contact cases in Essex over a four-month period in 2003, also highlights that parents had "limited empathy and high levels of distrust and anger" when describing how their former partners were coping with separation. They often linked distress suffered by their children to the behaviour of their ex-partner.
Dr Liz Trinder, senior lecturer at the Centre for Research on the Child and Family at the University of East Anglia, and research lead, says she was surprised at the amount of distress among families involved in first-time contact applications.
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