In brief: how parents can shape the future of research on child arrangements

In this episode, Kate is joined by Dr Sarah Foley, a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of Edinburgh.

Released: 21 May 2025
Updated: 28 November 2025
19 MIN
#139
Coparenting

In this episode, Kate is joined by Dr Sarah Foley, a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. They explore her current research on children’s relationships with their parents in different post-separation child arrangements. Sarah talks about why this research is important and how you can get involved.

About our guests:

Dr Sarah Foley is a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. Her research explores parent-child relationships and the psychological wellbeing of family members across diverse family forms (e.g., elective co-parents, those created through assisted reproductive technologies, LGBTQIA+ parent-headed families) and transitions (e.g., becoming a parent, separation or divorce). Her current research is exploring children’s relationships with their parents, adjustment and experiences of different post-separation child arrangements in England and Scotland. This is funded by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) New Investigators Grant. She completed her PhD at the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge.

More resources:

You can register to take part in Sarah’s study here, and you can learn a bit more about this study on the University of Edinburgh’s website

For more support with co-parenting, amicable offer Separating With Children Service as well as an app for all your childcare arrangements and communications. 

We'd love to know how we can help you further. Share your questions on divorce, separation and co-parenting with us at hello@amicable.co.uk, through direct messages on Instagram or by starting a new forum thread on amicable’s advice forum. They might just be the topic of a future episode!

Thanks for listening - here’s 3 months of the amicable co-parenting app for free! Open this link on your phone, install the app and create your account. Once that’s done, select 'I have a promo code' when setting up your family, enter PODCAST, press ‘apply’ and enjoy staying organised together.

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