OBJECTIVE Research on parental divorce suggests that the nature of the divorce process, as experienced by the child, is the most important factor in his or her post-divorce adjustment. Research regarding children's experiences of the divorce process has been limited and the adult perspective has dominated the discourse on divorce; only recently has research started to consider children's viewpoint. This article describes a narrative inquiry into the experiences and perceptions of parental divorce, of 9- to 10-year-old children. Its aim is to use children's stories of parental divorce to inform the practice of professionals working with such children. METHOD The research adopted a narrative paradigm. Unstructured interviews were conducted with five children whose parents were divorced. Data were analysed thematically. FINDINGS Seven themes were identified. The first theme explored children's endeavours to describe and explain parental divorce. An additional six themes were developed around the types of stories children told of the divorce process. The seven themes were: (i) What is a divorcement; (ii) Stories of loss; (iii) Stories of gain; (iv) Stories of change; (v) Stories of stability; (vi) Healing stories; and (vii) Complicating stories. CONCLUSION On the basis of the narratives elicited from children on parental divorce, this article proposes several guidelines for professionals such as psychologists, registered counsellors, social workers, and teachers as well as parents in their possible interventions with children. Some guidelines may also be of use to family and maintenance courts, and the government departments of health and education.

中文翻译：

---

父母离异时孩子的声音：对临床实践和心理健康从业者的影响。

目的关于父母离婚的研究表明，孩子经历的离婚过程的性质是其离婚后适应的最重要因素。关于儿童离婚过程的经验的研究是有限的，并且成年人的观点主导了关于离婚的论述。直到最近，研究才开始考虑儿童的观点。本文介绍了9到10岁儿童父母离婚的经历和看法的叙述性询问。其目的是利用儿童的父母离异故事来指导与此类儿童打交道的专业人员的做法。方法研究采用叙事范式。对五个父母离异的孩子进行了非结构化的采访。对数据进行专题分析。结果确定了七个主题。第一个主题探讨了儿童描述和解释父母离婚的努力。针对孩子讲述离婚过程的故事类型，还开发了另外六个主题。这七个主题是：（i）什么是离婚；（ii）损失的故事；iii获利的故事；iv变化的故事；v稳定的故事；vi治愈故事；（vii）故事复杂化。结论本文根据孩子对父母离婚的叙述，为心理学家，注册咨询师，社会工作者和教师以及父母等可能对孩子进行干预的专业人员提出了一些指导原则。一些准则可能还适用于家庭法院和maintenance养法院以及政府的卫生和教育部门。