Supporting Children after Separation Program (1 Viewer)

[Iron]

THE children of parents whose relationships break down will receive support and counselling from the Rudd Government, in a new multi-million-dollar program announced this week.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the new Supporting Children after Separation Program would help children deal with issues relating to divorce or separation, and to participate in decisions that affected them.

"The Supporting Children after Separation Program will help children whose parents decide they can no longer live together," Mr McClelland said.

"It will focus on the needs of children and help them deal with issues arising from the breakdown of their parents' relationship," he said.

"The program will support these children through a range of counselling and group activities, including allowing them to have a say in the separation process."

Mr McClelland said the program would be rolled out in all capital cities and some regional centres, including Newcastle and Wollongong in NSW, Bundaberg, Cairns and Ipswich in Queensland, and Geelong in Victoria.

It is understood the program will cost about $5million, and the funding will come from money set aside in last year's budget.

Adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said the resources were needed to help the 500,000 young people affected by separation and divorce in Australia each year. "It is important, and it is a great initiative. As far as I'm concerned, as an adolescent psychologist, the divorce and separation of parents is well-recognised as one of the great stressors in their children's life," Dr Carr-Gregg said.

"There's also good evidence that, if it's not handled well, it can be a precursor to major depressive illness, anxiety disorders and significantly disrupt their academic performance. So anything that we can do to smooth the way and give them a little bit of a feeling of involvement and power has got to be good."

The Attorney-General's Department will begin advertising next month for community organisations to implement the program in each location.

The services are expected to be up and running by the end of November this year.

Nicola Berkovic
March 22, 2008

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23413138-5013871,00.html

Good idea? I'm divided/seporated on the issue, being a divorce kid myself. I think that i'd be a lot less eccentric if I had a shrink explain why daddy hit mother all the time. But then i'd lose all my charm.

I think kids have definately been overlooked in this modern epidemic. Yay Labor.
/Opinions ensue

 

[KFunk]

I feel that psychological interventions for children and adolescents have a lot of potential. I remember coming across studies looking at therapy for juvenile offenders (in the USA) which suggested that each dollar spent would save $10-12 dollars later on (in court/jail/hospital/etc fees --> and you also have more productive members of the workforce). Add to this, of course, the fact that you have fewer people having to experience life in prison and fewer people suffering from the effects of crime. Makes for a winning combo in my opinion.

This new plan from the Rudd government deals with different situations of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if similar reasoning could be used to support it.

 

[Omium]

I dont support it.
In my lifetime i have paid a total of $154 in Tax.
My $154 is already paying for our Roads, Schools, Police and Politicians
I dont want whats left of my tax dollars to go to this.


NOTE: I didnt read article