Separation can isolate parents from their faith community.

Why is it that separation can isolate parents from their community of faith? When someone is facing a serious illness, it is not uncommon for a community of faith to join with that person on their difficult journey.  Support often includes public prayer and acknowledgement in the newsletter, plus practical support for them and any immediate family. The crisis of separation seems to get a whole lot more complicated. This type of difficult journey involves both parents and the children. In my experience the most common scenario is that post separation involves one or both parents leaving the faith community. It’s an awkward, messy time where often faith communities and the leaders who are trying to support everyone are under-resourced, overwhelmed and unsure what to do. My husband Russell has extensive experience in family mediation and family law and has heard of faith communities who have navigated this difficult space with some success. These exceptions include one faith community leader being assigned to one parent and another leader assigned to the other parent for tailored support; co-parents attend the faith service on alternative weekends so that the children could remain in the church community for consistency of care, support and teaching; in the case of a parent requiring supervised visits while they had their children, their faith community was able to support this program before, during and after the service. There are no easy answers, yet there is support available. For more information on support and hope for post separated parents of faith, and those wanting to support them, please visit Post separation parent support — Best Life Counselling for webinar information, or FAQs — Best Life Counselling to read through our frequently asked questions.

We would love to hear about your exceptions! Please email melanie@bestlifecounselling.net.au   With your permission we can de-identify and share your ideas, which will help others!