News Archive
The Herald: Classes for the sake of the kids 3 June
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/Classes_for_the_sake_of_the_kids.php
The Scotsman: Time to follow America’s lead 2 June
http://living.scotsman.com/features/Time-to-follow-Americas-lead.4140259.jp
Scotland on Sunday: Make up after you break up 1 June
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum/Make-up-after-you-break.4137071.jp
The Scotsman: Society should priorities… 29 May
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Society-should-prioritise--.4129978.jp
The Daily Record: Expert calls on Scots government… 28 May
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/divorce-lessons-for-family-break-ups
The Herald: The divorce lawyers have packed up… 21 May
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/The_divorce_papers_are_signed_So_what_happens_next.php
Jim Wallace to Chair new merged charity
Relationships Scotland, providing relationship and family support services across Scotland
From April 1st 2008, Family Mediation Scotland and Relate Scotland become Relationships Scotland and Jim Wallace, former Deputy First Minister is to chair the new organisation.
Jim Wallace: “A new chapter now opens in the history of service provision for couples and families in Scotland. Building on the achievements, dedication and hard work of those who have served in Relate Scotland and Family Mediation Scotland, our new organisation, Relationships Scotland, stands ready to support families in difficulty who turn to us for help at a critical time in their lives. Through counselling, family mediation and provision of child contact centres, we shall aim to deliver supporting services of the highest quality throughout Scotland.”
Stuart Valentine, Chief Executive said “We are delighted that Jim has agreed to head the new board of Relationships Scotland. When he became Justice Minister in the newly devolved Parliament, he brought forward a white paper on family law reform working alongside organisations like Relate Scotland and FMS. And it was during discussions at that time that the first seeds of merger were sown. From our point of view, his appointment is particularly gratifying because of his knowledge of our work, and it also allows continuity in his own work by addressing issues which have featured in his professional and political life.”
Relationships Scotland’s move is the first step in encouraging the merging of local family mediation and relationship counselling offices in all parts of Scotland – already Orkney, Dumfries and Galloway and Grampian have merged and all other affiliated services are being encouraged to follow their example. Stuart Valentine again: “Relationships Scotland’s role will be to support and develop an accessible and comprehensive network of local services for couples, individuals and families experiencing transition, separation and conflict – realistically, many people may not know what services are available to them at any stage in their relationship difficulties, so the ‘one door’ option can provide vital help when things seem to be in crisis”.
Scotland’s leaders urged to help the 50,000 children in Scotland’s affected each year by divorce and separation
Leading US divorce coach and parent educator comes to Scotland to back proposals
At the Parliament today, Scotland’s politicians are being called on to help the tens of thousands of Scotland’s young people affected by divorce and separation each year.At a reception organised by Counselling and Family Mediation Grampian, leading politicians are being urged by family mediators and leading family law experts to pilot a new child-friendly approach to marriage and relationship break-ups, with parent education classes and family mediation replacing the current potentially damaging adversarial system. They heard a presentation at the Scottish Parliament by leading divorce coach and parent educator from the US, Christina McGhee who has also undertaken mediators’ and solicitors’ training, as well as parental coaching, as part of her trip. Elizabeth Wallace Chief Executive of Counselling and Family Mediation Grampian, said “I first saw Christina talk about the parent education programmes she runs in the States when she visited London in 2006. We invited her to Scotland in 2007 and were delighted that she could return this year to help raise awareness of this unique service for separating and divorcing parents in Scotland.”
Relationships Scotland, previously Family Mediation Scotland, and the Scottish Collaborative Family Law Group, comprising Scotland’s leading family law exponents, are supported in their aims by Christina, who has helped raise the profile of the collaborative approach in the US.
Christina is the leading exponent of the parental coaching in the US, and presented a Channel 4 series entitled “How to Divorce Without Screwing up your Kids”. She has devoted her career to help children and families manage the challenges of separation, and along with specialists from law firms HBJ Gateley Wareing and Lindsays, will meet with politicians at the Scottish Parliament.
Approximately 13,000 couples divorce each year in Scotland – more than 35 every day of the year. These figures do not take into account the breakdown of unmarried parents’ relationships, and in 2007, half of all children born in Scotland were to unmarried parents. It can therefore be estimated that as many as 50,000 children in Scotland will be affected each year by divorce or separation and one in three children are likely to experience their parents separation before the age of 16.
Increasingly, research shows that the fallout from parental acrimony can lead to behavioural problems in children, lower levels of attainment and higher levels of smoking, drinking and drug use.
Now Relationships Scotland is offering Parent Education classes, and they would like to see Scotland’s law-makers make attendance the norm for parents who are separating.
Christina McGhee said: “We believe that parent education works best when it is enshrined in law, and that ultimately the best option is that parents who are separating should be made to attend these classes to ensure that they are aware of how best to handle the welfare of their children during this traumatic time.
Rosanne Cubitt, Head of Professional Practice at Relationships Scotland agreed; “We have been working with families in Scotland for over 20 years, and have experts who are specially trained to deliver these classes. It is our view that any costs involved would have to be off-set against the huge savings that would be made across a range of other sectors, including legal, health, social work and education.”
Leading Family Law specialists are also anxious to pilot the new approach. Cath Karlin, who heads the Family Law team at HBJ Gateley Wareing and is immediate past convener of the Scottish Collaborative Family Law Group, and Lesley Gordon, her counterpart at Lindsays, are two of Scotland’s Family Law experts.
Cath said: “We know from experiences in other parts of the world that this approach does work, and that couples and their children benefit from it. As lawyers we would like to see this approach piloted and tested, normalising it and giving parents the opportunity to see for themselves the positives that it brings and allow lawyers to make use of it with confidence.”
Lesley added: “Increasingly family law specialists are seeking to encourage clients to adopt a collaborative approach to marital and relationship break-ups. This approach can greatly reduce any conflict encountered, and certainly helps to reduce the risk of children being unnecessarily hurt though being caught up in the break-up.
“With increasing divorce rates – almost half of marriages now end in divorce – we need to move to a less adversarial system and encourage the legal profession to seek to embed a more solution focussed, child friendly approach.”
The Scottish Collaborative Law Group have already recommended that Scotland needs to look to modernise the way children are treated during divorce proceedings, as a part of their response to the review of the Scottish civil court system led by Lord Gill. The Group advocates a range of alternate dispute resolution efforts.
New charity to lead the way in supporting Scottish families
Relationships Scotland, providing relationship and family support services across Scotland
On April 1st 2008 a new charity became a leading voice for families in Scotland. Relate Scotland and Family Mediation Scotland have merged to become Relationships Scotland. Although Relationships Scotland has a new identity and a new look, Family Mediation Scotland and Relate Scotland (previously Couple Counselling Scotland) have more than 85 years experience of offering relationship and family support services in all parts of Scotland.
Relationships Scotland’s Chief Executive is Stuart Valentine: “It is clearly a time of change in Scotland. There are new family types, increased rates of divorce, growing migration from Eastern Europe and new civil partnerships. It is also clear that there is a political awareness of the issues around relationship and family support at this time – all of the key political parties are aiming to be the ‘party of the family’ and we have the opportunity to maximise this support to argue for greater resources for the work that we do. We are delighted that Jim Wallace, former Deputy First Minister of Scotland, has agreed to be Chair of Relationships Scotland, and that Elaine C Smith will be our Patron’.
Relationships Scotland’s merge is the first step in encouraging all local family mediation and relationship counselling offices all parts of Scotland to merge – already Orkney, Dumfries and Galloway and Grampian have done so and it is hoped that all other affiliated services will follow their example. Stuart Valentine again: “Relationships Scotland’s role will be to support and develop an accessible network of these services for families experiencing transition, separation and conflict – realistically, many people may not know what services are available to them at any stage in their relationship difficulties, so the ‘one door’ option can provide vital help when things seem to be in crisis”.
Jim Wallace, the new Chair of Relationships Scotland says: “A new chapter now opens in the history of service provision for couples and families in Scotland. Building on the achievements, dedication and hard work of those who have served in Relate Scotland and Family Mediation Scotland, our new organisation, Relationships Scotland, stands ready to support families in difficulty who turn to us for help at a critical time in their lives. Through counselling, family mediation and provision of child contact centres, we shall aim to deliver supporting services of the highest quality throughout Scotland.”
