Children’s Commissioner ‘annoyed’ by extreme views

Divorce can offer a solution for adults in an unhappy marriage but might not be the best option for children who are best off in a stable family, according to the Children’s Commissioner.

“As a country we must work on reducing separations and not on providing solutions for adults that might not be the best ones for children,” Helen D’Amato said.

Children from broken marriages ended up suffering irrespective of whether the cause was annulment, separation or divorce, she said echoing the words of Joe Gerada, former CEO of the Foundation of Social Welfare services.

However, she asked: “Why substitute something that has negative effects on children (separation) with something else (divorce)?”

Ms D’Amato was speaking during a meeting with the anti-divorce movement. As part of their campaign, leading up to the May 28 referendum, the Marriage Without Divorce members are holding meetings with several constituted bodies.

While refraining from saying whether she was in favour or against divorce, Ms D’Amato said she was “annoyed” by the two extreme views that gave the impression divorce would either save or destroy all children.

The situation was more complicated, she said, adding that as a commissioner she also represented those children born outside wedlock.

Having said that, she was concerned that the introduction of divorce would change the way children perceived marriage. Quoting foreign research backed by the UN, she said stability was very important for children. She was also concerned about the repercussions divorce would ahave on that stability since research carried out by countries where there was divorce legislation showed the introduction of divorce led to a decline in marriages and a rise in cohabitation and children born outside marriage.

A recent American study showed that 10 per cent of children, from families who were together, were at risk of having mental health problems but the number increased to 25 per cent for children from divorced families.

Turning to cohabitation, she said, one had to explore whether people where cohabiting because they were forced to or out of choice. In 2010, about 900 of the 1,000 children born outside marriage were born to single mothers who were never married. One had to keep in mind that the father could have been separated so the couple could not marry.

Arthur Galea Salamone, from the anti-divorce movement, urged voters to keep children in mind when voting on the introduction of divorce.

He criticised the Yes campaign for using children on their billboard that also carried offensive language as it called a child born out of wedlock a “bastard”.

The misleading billboards, he said, gave the wrong impression that divorce would reduce the rate of children born outside wedlock.