GROUP HELPED GIRL ACCEPT PARENTS' SPLIT

Almost everyone knows someone who's been directly affected by divorce. In 2000, there were almost 6.4 million divorced or separated parents in the United States, according to the census.

A divorce is hard on the whole family, but especially on children. Y-Press recently talked with a 15-year-old girl whose parents are divorced. To protect her privacy, she will be called Elizabeth.

She is one of the many children who has been helped by Children of Divorce, an organization in Columbus, Ind., that strives to keep children out of the middle of the conflict and give them an opportunity to voice their concerns.

At the time of her parents' divorce, Elizabeth was in third grade.

"My mom came and picked me up after school. She was crying, and she was like, 'I'm leaving Daddy.' I didn't know what to think. I was just like, 'Why?' And she just said, 'We don't agree with each other all the time.' I don't know exactly what was running through my mind. I was just scared. I thought I would never see my dad again, but it didn't work out that way."

Although Elizabeth was confused and afraid, she's had help from her friends and especially her aunt, a counselor at Children of Divorce.

"She was like my mom, my grandma, one of my good friends and my aunt all rolled into one person," Elizabeth said.

Even though it was hard for everyone, she thinks the divorce was a good idea for her parents and for her. "My parents fought a lot. What went through my mind is just that maybe they would hit each other," she said.

"I feel that I've matured a lot faster than my friends. It made me concentrate on school more. It made me work harder at some things because I didn't want to worry about the divorce."

Because of the divorce, her feelings about her mom changed. "I disliked my mom 'cause she's the one that filed. I had a kind of hatred toward her, but not a lot. I still love her," Elizabeth said.

When she encounters other kids going through a similar experience, she has some advice:

"I think that a lot of kids think it's their fault. And I felt that way too. . . . I recently had a friend whose parents were having problems . . . and she thought it was her fault because her birthday was this week. I told her that it wasn't, so that's my advice, not to blame yourself."

REPORTERS: Katie Stergar, 11; and Emily Kasnak, 11.