The purpose of the present research is the study of children’s perceptions through their drawings about their divorced families. Specifically the study is focused on the roles and functions in the family and the dynamics between the family members. Concerning the sample, it is consisted of 26 children’s drawings. The participants are aged between 5 and 12 years old (M=8.23, SD=2.42) and all of them are living with the mother. It is important to say that the present research was conducted when the parents were already divorced for six months or less. The psychometric tools which were given to each child were two kinds of drawings: (1) Corman’s static family drawing and (2) Burns & Kaufman’s kinetic family drawing. As for the results of the present study, it is shown that the 38.5% of the participants chose to draw their real family in the static family drawing, including though both parents, another 38.5% drew an imaginary family and the 23% drew an ideal family (relatives or friends). Concerning the kinetic family drawings, the 69.2% of the participants drew both parents. However the 30.8% is shown to interact with none of the parents or other familial members and also the self-figure is drawn isolated, without being a part of any subsystem, in the majority (61.5%) of the kinetic family drawings. Concluding, based on the fact that the drawings consist a projective assessment technique, they are able to show the children’s thoughts, emotions or desires. As a result, we can assume that the children do not seem to accept the recent parental separation, as the majority of the participants drew both parents. Nevertheless, there is a noteworthy percentage of drawings, where the participants’ self-figure interacts with no other person or tends to be totally isolated.

Children's drawings have been used by several therapist as a rare window into the subconscious of the child. One area which has benefitted much from this is sexual abuse of children. Several therapists agree that the presence of genitals in a child's drawing is a strong indication of a possible abuse. However, these recommendations do not speak much of the social background of the child who produced the drawing. It was therefore necessary to find out whether the presence of genitals in the drawings of children who are in environments where mother showed breasts in the open during breastfeeding; and grandmothers seldom covered their chests. The study was conducted in two metropolitan areas in Ghana, one in the northern part and the other in the south. Children were asked to draw their families and these drawings were screened for genitals. Those which had genitals were separated and these children were taken through processes to understand the why genitals were present in their drawings. The study concludes that environment has influence on the drawings of children and when parents expose genitals to children in the environment without abusing the children, these genitals will find their way in the drawing of the child. 1 Background and statement of the problem Globally there has been increased attempts to use the drawings of children to diagnose issues that affect them for which they might not be bold to express verbally (Koplewicz & Goodman, 1999). One of such areas of critical interest to researchers is the sexual molesting of children. Some therapists have proposed indicators which when present in a child's drawing gives a strong indication that the child might have been sexually abused. Such indicators include breasts, vagina, and penis. The placement and the detailing of the particular genital also give some clues. However, it could be said that most of these studies were performed in cultures where children seldom co-slept with parents and where elderly women such as mothers or grandmothers probably never exposed their naked bodies to children. In some societies in Africa, children co-sleep with parents and in some cases are present when parents are dressing in the room. Also, elderly women in these societies often perform duties in the home with only a cloth around their waist without covering the breast area. These exposures have the tendency of influencing the drawings of the child since children tell and interpret their life experiences through drawing (Enti, 2008). Due to these, it was the target of the researchers to find out whether drawings of children which have genitals in them had any bearing on child sexual abuse in societies where children co-slept with parents.