Judge warns of family failures
Updated 09.05 Sat Apr 05 2008
Keywords: society, breakdown, family, Government
A senior judge has blamed the Government for an "epidemic" of family failures which is causing "society's social ills".
In a speech due to take place in Brighton, Family Division judge Mr Justice Coleridge highlights what he describes as the "wholesale" collapse of families. As a result, children from broken homes are increasingly turning to drink, drugs and crime.
He says that family life is even "in meltdown or completely unrecognisable" in some urban areas of the countryHe says that family life is even "in meltdown or completely unrecognisable" in some urban areas of the country.
The judge, who is in charge of family courts in the South West, added that he is not criticising single parents, but warns of the "cancerous" spread of family breakdown and says "comprehensive action" is needed to halt a "downward spiral".
He asks: "And what is Government doing to recognise and face up to the emerging situation? What is it doing to halt the decline or even reverse it? The answer is very little and nothing like enough. It is fiddling whilst Rome burns."
However, a spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Families and Schools defended the Government's record on families and children.
She said: "Most children and young people in England today are safe, healthy, and achieve well.
"We are absolutely committed to improving the well-being of all children, young people and families. We do not agree that there has been a breakdown in the family - 70 per cent of families are headed by a married couple and a recent poll suggests that three-quarters of people in Britain are optimistic about the future of their families, 24 per cent higher than when the same question was asked in 1964.
"Our Children's Plan puts children and families at the centre of everything the Government does."
bron:
http://itn.co.uk/news/34fc4e41a68fa2ac9 ... 00384.html
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