About 10,000 kids with divorced parents found to be at mental risk

By JPOST.COM STAFF
About 10,000 children with divorced parents are found to be at mental risk due to the conflict between their parents, a report presented on Monday by the Social Affairs Ministry revealed. A number of these children lapsed into serious conditions and were admitted to hospital for mental treatment. According to the report, the past year saw an increase of 18 percent in the number of couples involved in familial conflicts. In 2007, welfare officials became involved in 3,758 such cases, and invested many work hours in order to aid the children, and reduce harm caused to minors in these families. In the past year, welfare officials recommended guardianship be granted to the mother in 2,867 cases, while in only 534 cases was guardianship given to the father. Shared custody was recommended in a mere 167 instances. To compare, in 2006, maternal guardianship was recommended in 2,779 cases and 694 for paternal. Shared guardianship was recommended in 149 cases.