Mediate Michigan

Divorce nearly crushed Kathleen Anderson. She lost her three children in a custody battle and her finances were devastated by child support.

Her first husband left her and 30 days later married a close friend. A judge determined she couldn’t financially provide for the children, and they were better off in a two-parent family.

“All I could do was cry for days,” said Anderson, now 54, of Utica, Kansas. “My financial situation was dim. I learned to budget and do without, sell junk and take on small part-time jobs.

“She even picked up trash along the roadside and offered to help an elderly neighbor for extra cash.

That was 20 years ago. Today, she is reunited with her three oldest children and happily remarried with two more children. But Anderson has never forgotten how her life was shaken by divorce.

via Divorce is Hard on Women’s Health, Self-Esteem and Finances – ABC News.