I chose “Help and support for parents in the process of divorce at centres of social work” as the title of my dissertation. Divorce leaves a big mark on the whole family. During the divorce each individual transforms whilst also seeking support and comfort by expanding their social network. The process at CSW takes place as part of a counseling discourse. The divorcing couple must make mandatory contact with center of social work in the event that the children they take care of are still minors. The biggest goal of the counseling is to reach an agreement on the care and upbringing of children. It is very important that both spouses are heard as well as the voice of the child. Other things, such as alimony and contact with the child are also discussed, as well as the relationship that the spouses have with each other or will have in the future. In my dissertation I put focus firstly on the process that takes place at CSW and secondly, on the relationship that the spouses have throughout, and after, the divorce. There is also some emphasis on the child, but it is not the central theme. In qualitative research on non-random convinience sample of eight people I have found that spouses who divorce by mutual consent or who have had a fairly stable relationship before, understand each other better throughout the entire process and manage to maintain good contacts even after the divorce. In the case of couples with poor relations, the co-parenting after divorce doesn’t work either. We can see evidence of that, as the parents were not able to build a good relationship with each other — the cause being their unresolved issues. The interviewees also talked about the expansion of their social network, which is a very important part of the divorce process. It turned out that everyone was trying to broaden it as much as possible. There was a noticeable dissatisfaction with the manner of work in the center, but there were also some comments about the good side of it. In the dissertation, it will be possible to read about how the interviewees saw the social worker and the operation of the center in general.
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