The experience of abused women with their children's law guardians.

In-depth unstructured interviews are conducted with previously abused divorced mothers about their experience with law guardians of their children. Interviews are transcribed and their content analyzed using ATLAS.ti software. Nine themes clustered in the following three groups emerge: perceived performance of law guardians; perceived shortcomings of the system, which provides a context for interaction with law guardians; and emotional effects on women. These themes are discussed and illustrated, and implications for practice are suggested.