When parents separate, something that everyone took for granted to be permanent has turned out not to be so. Children may feel that their firm foundation has turned to sand, leaving them bewildered and disorientated.
The main task for parents and care workers alike is to help the children accept the separation and make the best of it.
Writing in the 1960s, Mary Ainsworth talked of children's need for 'a secure base' from which they could explore the world intellectually, physically and emotionally. Traditionally this secure base was provided by two parents who loved each other and who loved the child. But nowadays in club you see all kinds of families - single-parent families, same-sex parents, and reconstituted families.
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