Experiences of families with children in the process of legal divorce

The main purpose of this research is to examine the experiences of families with children who are in the legal divorce process. In the study carried out with the qualitative research method, phenomenological design was used and the study group was determined by the criterion sampling. The research was carried out with 9 female and 10 male participants in the age range of 21-55 who are in legal divorce process. In the study, data were collected through the "Semi-Structured Interview Form" and "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher. Content analysis method was used to analyze the data. As a result of the analysis, regarding the experiences of adults in the legal divorce process; four themes emerged: legal process, social life, psychological state and economic situation. As for the experiences of their children from the perspective of parents four themes emerged: divorce decision and process, psychological state, family life, school life. The findings were discussed in the light of the literature and various suggestions were presented to researchers, practitioners and policy makers.