Taking a longer view of contact: the perspectives of young adults who experience parental separation in their youth

This is a report of a research study funded by the Nuffield Foundation exploring the experiences of a representative group of young adults in England (aged 18-35) who had experienced the break-up of their parents' relationships before they reached the age of 16. The study was based on a telephone survey of 398 and face to face qualitative telephone interviews with 50 of them. It produced valuable empirical evidence on how these young adults viewed the contact arrangements they had had during their childhood and what they believed had made that contact a more or less successful experience. The study provides information which will assist practitioners to predict whether contact arrangements being made for a particular child are likely to be beneficial or not.