Divorce Practices of Muslim Families in Southern Philippines: A Multiple Case Study

ABSTRACT: Repeated family transitions raise the likelihood of adverse child outcomes, and parentalseparation and divorce can transform the family structure from a two-parent biological family to a lone parent orstepfamily status. Although divorce is permissible in Islam, it lays great emphasis on its being a concession andmeasure that must be resorted to only when there is no alternative. The purpose of this qualitative multiple casestudy is to describe the experiences of Muslim Families in Southern Philippines in Islamic Divorce. In thisstudy, divorce practices were explained in detail to acquire a comprehensive understanding of how the Islamiclaw of divorce functions. This also describes how the couple arrived at their decision of having divorce. Resultsrevealed that introspection and contemplation, consultation with family members, decision to divorce, Iddah,and processing the divorce were the divorce practices. Determination, avoidance and redirection, settling issueswith children, and counting on support mechanisms were the coping mechanisms. Divorce should be avoided,divorce requires careful and thorough deliberation, collateral damage is on the child and there is life afterdivorce were the insights learned.

KEYWORDS:social work, advance social work practice, divorce practices, Muslim families, multiple casestudy, Philippines