Fractured Families - Major study in UK links - 12/13/06

[Smartmarriages]

- FRACTURED FAMILIES REPORT
- MARRIAGE 'KEY TO A BETTER SOCIETY'
- TORIES SAY MARRIAGE IS KEY TO ENDING SOCIAL PROBLEMS
- SO MUCH MEDIA COVERAGE - MARRIAGE STRIKES A NERVE

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Here is news of a MAJOR report out of the UK plus examples of media
coverage.  The report which is free as a download provides a great summary
of the research and arguments which can serve as a template for all of us to
adapt to our own communities.    - diane

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- FRACTURED FAMILIES REPORT

Diane
Several of us have submitted a report on family breakdown to the UK
Conservative party. The report ³Family Breakdown: Fractured families² is
one of six parts of a larger report on social justice and poverty entitled
³Breakdown Britain². We will be producing a final report proposing
³solutions² in June. I¹d like to think that our family breakdown section is
the most substantial review ever conducted in the UK of family breakdown,
its causes and consequences. There are over 270 academic references, mostly
from the UK, but also drawing from many prominent US researchers ­ Amato,
Bradbury, Edin, Gottman, Karney, McLanahan, Nock, Olsen, Popenoe, Stanley,
Waite. I hope you¹ll find it a helpful overview that may have both interest
and relevance in the US. You can download it (and the other sections) free
from 
http://povertydebate.typepad.com/home/2006/12/breakdown_brita_1.html
Click on Vol 2 -  Family Breakdown.
Harry Benson
Bristol Community Family Trust

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- MARRIAGE 'KEY TO A BETTER SOCIETY'
Cameron backs Tory report that blames family breakdown for poverty and
Britain's social ills

Yorkshire Post Today - Leeds,Yorkshire,UK
December 13, 2006
Simon McGee Political Editor

> He said: "For some time I have been concerned about our reluctance as a nation
> to ask WHY the world's fourth largest economy continues to have ever greater
> demands placed upon its social support system, the welfare state, during a
> period of unprecedented prosperity."

> Mr Duncan Smith said: "As this report shows, children from a broken home are
> twice as likely to have behavioural problems, perform worse at school, become
> sexually active at a younger age, suffer depression and turn to drugs, smoking
> and heavy drinking."

MARRIAGE should be put at the heart of efforts to tackle the complex web of
family breakdown and poverty afflicting a "growing underclass" in Britain,
according to a new report from the Conservatives.

The crippling impact of personal debt, drink and drug dependency, teenage
pregnancies and educational underachievement on society's poorest are among
the problems highlighted in a study published yesterday by a Tory policy
commission, chaired by former party leader Iain Duncan Smith.

Launching the Breakdown Britain report in central London, Mr Duncan Smith
said some of the issues he had raised might cause colleagues in his party to
"swallow hard", but they would also realise they needed addressing.

The decline of marriage and increase of cohabitation was identified by the
policy group as a key contributor to "family breakdown", itself responsible
for a variety of ills.

"The ongoing rise in family breakdown affecting young children has been
driven by the dissolution of cohabiting partnerships," the report stated.
"The majority of these are less stable than marriage being more than twice
as likely to break up."

The commission called for a "radical appraisal" of marriage policy and for
politicians "to grasp the nettle of family breakdown by being clear about
the benefits of marriage and committed relationships, and the merits of
supporting and encouraging them".

They added: "We have concluded on the basis of the extensive evidence that
both family structure and family process matter.

"The statistics indicate that marriages are far more likely to provide a
stable environment for adults and children than cohabitation and are more
resilient when the family is facing a crisis or stressful life event such as
childbearing."

The interim report, endorsed by Conservative leader David Cameron as
"powerful and convincing", describes five "pathways to poverty" ­ family
breakdown, educational failure, economic dependence, indebtedness and
addictions and paints a bleak picture of a society which is "breaking down
on the margins".

The policy group is expected to propose specific policies next year.
Mr Duncan Smith insisted yesterday that Britons should be "ashamed" of some
parts of country.

He said: "For some time I have been concerned about our reluctance as a
nation to ask why the world's fourth largest economy continues to have ever
greater demands placed upon its social support system, the welfare state,
during a period of unprecedented prosperity."

Mr Duncan Smith said: "As this report shows, children from a broken home are
twice as likely to have behavioural problems, perform worse at school,
become sexually active at a younger age, suffer depression and turn to
drugs, smoking and heavy drinking."

Labour's Social Exclusion Minister Pat McFadden insisted last night that the
Tories were hypocritical, having opposed measures to tackle poverty such as
the minimum wage, maternity leave and flexible working.

"The truth is that, despite all of today's rhetoric, the Tories are not
offering one concrete policy proposal to help and support Britain's
hard-working families and to eradicate poverty," he said.

"It is Labour that is taking action to support families, as last week's
announcement to extend child benefit entitlement to mothers-to-be
demonstrates. That's just one example of how a real policy is better than
thousands of warm words."

Lib Dem social exclusion spokesman Matthew Taylor added: "Simply wishing for
more families to stay together achieves nothing, whilst penalising the
children of broken families would just make social exclusion and relative
poverty even worse.

"The Conservatives' document is high on moral tone but offers nothing to
help real families in Britain today."

FAMILY BREAKDOWN

High rates of teenage pregnancy and the "breakdown of nurture" are among key
factors identified in the report which lead to an "intergenerational
transmission" of family breakdown.

"Girls who come from fatherless or broken homes and whose mothers gave birth
in their teens are greatly overrepresented in teen pregnancy statistics...
and will typically be subject to ongoing financial difficulties throughout
the lifecycle.

"Furthermore, family breakdown in the form of abuse, neglect or insufficient
nurture creates a cycle of psychological distress in which 'damaged'
individuals go on to create more dysfunctional families which are then
subject to further breakdown." The report adds there is now an increasing
number of families that cannot offer certain "core needs" to their offspring
like protection, self-control, and freedom to express valid emotions.

EDUCATIONAL FAILURE

Absent fathers ­ or "dadlessness" ­ is highlighted as a major cause, among
other things, of educational underachievement.

The report says: "The absence of a constructive male figure in their lives
at home is compounded for many boys in early schooling, as fewer primary
school-age children ever encounter a male teacher at school. Instead, their
role model is too often a transient father who is unsupportive."

Drug and drink addition is another problem framed by the report in the
context of its impact on schooling. The report adds: "These depressing
trends form an interlinking pattern, with evidence demonstrating the effect
drug taking and drinking have on truancy figures, including crimes committed
by truants while absent."

INDEBTEDNESS

"Personal debt is the most serious social problem affecting the UK," the
report concludes.

And it is almost impossible for people on low incomes to pay off their debts
because of "appallingly high levels of interest they routinely pay on their
loans".

The commission makes clear it believes there has been "excessive
complacency" about the impact of debt on society. "The gravity of the debt
problem may have been underestimated," states the report.

"Although a survey for the Bank of England shows that some 3.7m people
suffer bad debt, our own polling indicates that over 7m people have suffered
bad debt; if the children of the affected families are included it could be
as high as 9m. People on low incomes are subject to higher interest charges
on loans than anyone else. Rates in excess of 100 per cent are common from
bona fide companies, with loan sharks charging much more."

ADDICTIONS

Nearly three million adults have some form of alcohol dependency and more
than a million children are living in homes with alcoholics, the report
says.

There are also reckoned to be 1.6 million adult cannabis dependents and
360,000 Class A or "highly problematic" drug users.

The combined effects of drinking and drug-taking are "historically
unprecedented", states the report, and have led young adults to engage in "a
new culture of intoxication".

"Behind these drugs and alcohol headlines is the emergence and growth of a
range of addictive behaviours and practices.

"Self-harm and cutting, virtually unheard of ten years ago, are on the rise.
Gambling is a national addiction."
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=192
4763

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- TORIES SAY MARRIAGE IS KEY TO ENDING SOCIAL PROBLEMS
The London Times 
December 11, 2006 
By Jenny Percival and PA

Couples will be encouraged to marry rather than live together under
Conservative proposals derided by opponents as a return to John Major's
'back to basics' approach.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has endorsed a 300-page report
published today by former leader Iain Duncan Smith which claims that family
breakdowns cause social problems costing more than £20 billion a year.

In the 1990s, a string of sex scandals blighted Mr Major's government after
he launched a "back to basics" campaign that was interpreted as a moral
crusade. The Labour Party claims that the Tories are returning to that
ill-fated approach.

And campaigners for lone parents said the Tories risked stigmatising people
who did not live in a traditional family set-up while one think-tank warned
that it was naive to think that supporting marriage was the key to easing
society's ills.

Mr Duncan Smith had been shaken to discover that nearly half of cohabiting
couples had broken up by the time their first child was five, whereas the
figure for married couples was much lower. This supported his belief that
the Conservative Party must ensure their policies supported marriage and
encouraged couples to stay together.

"If marriage rates went up, if divorce rates came down, if more couples
stayed together for longer, would our society by better off? My answer is
yes. And so I will set a simple test for each and every one of our policies:
does it help families?"

Family breakdown - fuelled by Government policies such as tax credits - had
led to the creation of a growing underclass in society and a violent crime
wave that was tearing communities apart, according to Mr Duncan Smith.

"As this report shows, children from a broken home are twice as likely to
have behavioural problems, perform worse at school, become sexually active
at a younger age, suffer depression and turn to drugs, smoking and heavy
drinking."

Launching the Breakdown Britain report in central London today, the former
leader said some of the issues he had raised might cause colleagues in the
party to "swallow hard", but they would also realise they needed addressing.

He said: "This is not about finger-wagging, or telling people they¹ve done
wrong. What I¹m trying to say is that there is a better way.

"The modern society, the 21st century society we wish to live in, needs to
be more cohesive and balanced than I believe it is at the moment."

Mr Cameron, who set up the social justice policy group to explore options,
has already welcomed the Breakdown Britain report as "powerful and
convincing".

The interim report describes five "pathways to poverty" - family breakdown,
educational failure, economic dependence, indebtedness and addictions. It
paints a bleak picture of a society which is "breaking down on the margins",
and where the "social fabric of many communities is being stripped away".

The group - which has consulted more than 800 experts and organisations
directly - is expected to propose specific policies when it delivers its
final report next year.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2498930,00.html
##########################
- SO MUCH MEDIA COVERAGE - MARRIAGE AS A VERY HOT TOPIC

For an idea of the vast amount of coverage and reaction the report is
getting, check the many links at:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&nc
l=1111656364

> Lib Dems: VICTORIAN VALUES will not prevent poverty
> Politics.co.uk, UK - Dec 11, 2006
> Reducing poverty in the UK requires new solutions not a return to the failed
> policies of the 19th century, said the Liberal Democrats today. ...

> TORIES HIT AT SINGLE MOTHERS
> Mirror.co.uk, UK - Dec 11, 2006
> By Oonagh Blackman Political Editor. TORY right-wingers behind a new report on
> family life have launched a hardline attack on lone and working mums. ...

> Cameron set to offer tax breaks to married couples
> This is London, UK - Dec 11, 2006
> David Cameron has signalled he is ready to slash the tax burden on married
> couples in the wake of a major party report warning family breakdown and debt
> are ...

> Breakdown of families costs £20bn a year, claim Tories
> Yorkshire Post Today, UK - Dec 11, 2006
> Tory leader David Cameron yesterday hailed a "powerful and convincing" study
> that suggests family breakdown causes £20bn of problems each year.


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