Coronavirus triggers spike in calls over relationship breakdowns

A surge in calls from couples seeking help could intensify pressure on the stretched family law system.

A spike in divorce and separation is likely to put further strain on the stretched family law system.

A huge spike in calls from people seeking help with relationship breakdowns across Australia has sparked warnings that the pandemic is likely to result in an increase in divorce and intensify pressure on the stretched family law system.

Divorce figures have a 12-month lag because couples must be separated for a year before they can apply to end a marriage.

However, there has been a surge in calls since March to Relationships Australia, one of the first ports of call for many people experiencing a family breakdown, as one of the largest providers of relationship counselling, family mediation and related services in each state and territory.

In NSW, calls to Relationships Australia have increased 45 per cent, from about 4600 a month last year to 6700 a month since March. About 70 per cent of those calls were from new clients, and the remainder from existing clients.

In Victoria and Queensland, calls to Relationships Australia increased 30 per cent since March, and in Western Australia, call volumes were up 25 per cent in the same period compared to last year.

Relationships Australia NSW chief executive Elisabeth Shaw said the services were a “litmus test for society” of what was occurring in families.

“We’re seeing relationships under a great deal of stress,” she said.

“People have been locked in together, experiencing job losses or feeling really low in themselves and then you tend to take that out on your nearest and dearest. When your partner fails to step up in times like this you can also react more harshly than in better times.

“More of our lives have been exposed to our partners, and whether that may be seeing them shouting at their employees or slacking off, some people have been confronted by what they’ve seen.

“Then you add into that fears about the future and poverty, managing elderly parents and anxious kids, and it can put a lot of strain on relationships.”

She said she believed the increased volume of clients was likely to translate into higher levels of divorce or separation.

“I think there will be more people who are going to separate because of the stress,” she said, adding this would be consistent with international research that had shown that after disasters, such as the 9/11 terror attack or tsunamis, relationship breakdowns tended to spike.

Any potential increase is likely to put further strain on the stretched family law system. The Australian revealed this month that some judges in the Federal Circuit Court, which handles almost 90 per cent of family law cases, were struggling to keep on top of their workloads and Family Court Chief Justice Will Alstergren had conceded some parents were facing “unacceptable delays”.

The pandemic has exposed people to more of their partners’ lives.

Relationships Australia Victoria’s general manager of clinical services Anastasia Panayiotidis said a survey earlier this year had shown about 17 per cent of counselling clients said their relationship had improved during the pandemic but the majority (81 per cent) said the impact had been negative.

“In families and couples where the foundations were solid and good, the increased time together was beneficial and led to greater intimacy, but if there were already tensions in the relationship, COVID-19 really accelerated those cracks and increased the conflict,” she said.

Each of its centres had waiting lists and the workload was “relentless and ongoing”, she said.

Relationships Australia WA chief executive Terri Reilly said calls to its mediation services and family relationship centres had increased from about 150 calls a day to 200 calls a day during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in June.

“The huge increase in inquiries shows we have an increase in people who are going into the family law system because they have a relationship breakdown and are needing our support. They are new inquiries,” she said.

Relationships Australia Queensland chief executive Ian Law said while the lockdown in his state was shorter than elsewhere there had still been significant impacts felt, and higher incidents reported to its counsellors of domestic violence. It had received “unprecedented call volumes” to its family relationship advice line, from a pre-pandemic average of about 1500 to 1800 calls a week to a peak of more than 3000 calls in one week.

Call volumes to all phone lines had risen almost 30 per cent since February, he said.

Post-separation clients had also found the landscape “very difficult to navigate”, with many unable to see their children during the lockdown period.