Healthy Divorce
Begins Here

"Parents who use divorce mediation have better relationships with their children than parents who litigate."

- Emery, 2004

"Litigation increases trauma and escalates conflict."

- Saccuzzo, 2003

"Conflict, not the divorce itself, causes long-term harm to children."

- Rheinstein, 1972, as cited in Saposnek, 1998

"The more overt the parental conflict, the more disturbed children are likely to be."

- Johnson, 1989, as cited in Bricklin, 2000

"When parents continued fighting after the divorce … children had a great deal of difficulty accepting and integrating the divorce."

- Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980, as cited in Saposnek, 1998

"Children of 'high conflict litigants' endure distortions of self-image, passivity, impaired functioning, distorted perspectives about life events, and difficulties in 'initiating or completing tasks,' 'sustaining intimacy,' and 'relating to others'."

- Bricklin, B. & Elliot G. 2000 as cited in Sauer, J. J. 2007

"An estimated two million children in the United States over the past two decades have been caught in an endless cycle of their parents’ high-conflict litigation 'passing in and out of a revolving court door'."

- Sauer, J. J. 2007

"Mediation helps spouses better transition to their new co-parenting roles in a healthy way, which helps kids adjust."

- Saposnek, 1998

"When children are frequently coerced or cajoled into taking sides in parental battles, [this] creates a terrible conflict in them of divided loyalties. Such a tug-of-war greatly compounds children’s difficulties."

- Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980, as cited in Saposnek, 1998

"The better that a parent is able to adjust after divorce, the better a child will be able to adjust. When parents provide a stable environment … children are able to successfully adjust and cope with their parents’ separation."

- Saposnek, 1998

"Conflict is harmful only if the child never experiences the parents resolving it. When parents 'compromise,' children avoid the 'poorer adjustment' that comes from continuous 'verbal attacking.'"

- Camara & Resnick, 1989, as cited in Saposnek, 1998

"The deleterious effects of interparental conflict on children … during the marital separation and after the divorce has been so amply documented that it has become commonplace knowledge…"

- Emery, 1988, as cited in Saposnek, 1998; Grych & Fincham, 1990; et al.

"A central cause of children’s poor adjustment post-divorce at five years after the divorce was the failure of the divorce to provide the intended relief."

- Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980, as cited in Saposnek, 1998

"When children 'suffer heightened levels of anxiety' resulting from their parents’ divorce conflict, they develop a shrunken 'sense of self-worth,' act more aggressively, and are terrified of their parents’ aggressiveness while oppositely imitating it."

- Bricklin & Elliot, 2000

"Children whose parents engaged in 'high levels of conflict' were found to be overly aggressive or insecure. Witnessing hostility between parents led to aggressive behavior in children for several years following divorce."

- Bricklin, 1995