Peer support for children going through a divorce: An empirical study of the options supporting and young people when their parents divorce

Divorce and separation have become an everyday reality for couples, and as a result are increasingly affecting children and young people. Almost one in two marriages in German-speaking countries ends in divorce. When the family home is in tatters, children suffer in a particular way. A wide variety of support services are now available to parents and their children during and after a separation. However, as the study shows, particularly for young people, the services discussed in detail sometimes fail to address their actual needs and are therefore little used. A project in which peers support children and young people through their parents' separation or divorce does not exist in this form in German-speaking countries. However, the use of peers in various contexts has a long tradition. Support for young people provided by peers might be met with greater acceptance than professional support from experts. It is essential to clearly define the possibilities and limitations of such support. The training of peers could be linked to existing peer mediation training programmes.