Crossword Genius

Divorced father assessed following case of self-abuse (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

separated

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'divorced' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'father assessed following case of self-abuse' is the wordplay.
'father' becomes 'pa' (pa can mean dad or father).
'assessed' becomes 'rated' (rating is a kind of assessing).
'following' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'case of self abuse' becomes 'se' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'pa'+'rated'='parated'
'parated' put after 'se' is 'SEPARATED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for separated that I've seen before include "Broke up" , "Distinguished -- divided" , "in different cages?" , "Pulled apart" , "No longer connected or joined" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app