DadTalk

Too easy to blame the Dad

regular contact between separated families seems to be getting harder to maintain

When he fetched the box out last Christmas - postcard after postcard keeping the link - we were reminded how important it was to keep that contact. Adults may be able to hold on to a relationship many miles and many days apart, but it’s far harder for children. They need their parents to be there for them.

This kind of regular contact between separated families seems to be getting harder to maintain. Most parents will say that their child’s welfare is their main priority during a separation, but according to a new study of more than 4,000 people by the law firm Mishcon de Reya, more than a third of children lose touch with their father after their parents separate.

Whether it’s a third who lose touch permanently, or the more frequently quoted 50 per cent (from a 1996 study) who stop contact in the first two years, clearly it’s far more than it should be. But what makes keeping in touch so difficult?

Read on from the Times Online