Overcoming Adversity

So often we hear that the number of poor outcomes for children of broken families is significantly more than intact families but there are no figures that tell us how many children grow to be successful because they overcame the difficulties relating to their parent's separation.

Although not related to divorce this article in the Herald describes how Azeem Ibrahim, who grew up in a council house in Glasgow, was motivated after his father went bankrupt and died prematurely within 5 years. Azeem Ibrahim at 32 has his own bank, a self-made fortune of £60m and a doctorate from Cambridge University. He belongs to US and UK think tanks and advises governments on inward investment.

A few years ago I came across research that concluded that a disproportionately high number of the world's most famous people had overcome childhood adversity. I'm not sure if the study was valid or not but throughout history there has been many children brought up with the absence of at least one parent who then went on to do great things eg Bill Clinton, Tom Cruise, the Duke of Wellington, Alan Johnson MP, George Eliot, Marie Curie, Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Angelou.