Kathy Gyngell, writing in the Telegraph (U.K.), argues that modern government is most to blame for the demise of the traditional family. And, though she knows she's asking for an awful lot, she asks for politicians with intelligence, boldness and courage to now try and undo some of that damage. A very compelling article....Britain may not lead the world in much, but we are certainly ahead when it comes to social pathology. So many children are neglected and, as a result, run out of control: we have high rates of truancy and exclusions, while violence and disorder among youngsters – even murder – have escalated in recent years to become daily headline fodder...
That so many more of our children are now disadvantaged and neglected is rooted in the fact that so many more are being born to lone and cohabiting parents, while the Government remains wedded to the politically correct myth that this is OK.
The publication this week of the Social Trends Report from the Office of National Statistics marks a new point in the demise of the traditional family. Today, having a child is the first major milestone of adult life, ahead of marriage. Now 30 per cent of women under 30 give birth by the age of 25, but only 24 per cent of under-30s get married. Try as it might to lift children out of economic poverty, the state cannot lift them out of the emotional poverty that results from this situation.
The fact remains that children who grow up with parents who aren't married are more likely to experience the double whammy of fatherlessness and disruption. One in two cohabiting couples splits up before their child's first birthday. Exposed to disinterested boyfriends and multiple carers, children in single and cohabiting families are more likely to suffer physical abuse, fail at school, play truant, suffer from depression and other mental illnesses or turn to drugs and alcohol than children whose parents are married. Their progress through life is less safe and less secure. In adulthood they are less able to cope or to form stable, caring and responsible relationships, so the problem is amplified down the generations.
The tragedy is that the cost of family breakdown has been known for so long and yet has been wilfully ignored by politicians of both parties...
So can any of this be reversed? Yes, because it does not need to be like this. Most European economies still support marriage through the tax and benefit system, and there is no reason that the UK has to be different. We are alone in Europe in having such a liberal and individualistic agenda, one that has proved so damaging both to individuals and to society. This is one area where we should come into line with Europe. But it will take great political bravery to change the tax system to stop discouraging marriage and to start discouraging single parenting. It will mean cultural change led by eloquent refutations of Labour's false argument that any change in the tax laws would penalise and stigmatise the children of single parents. It will take a renewed understanding of children's needs – above all, an understanding of their need for the stability of parental commitment and parental responsibility. Sadly, for all their fair words, and their Every Child Matters agenda, this Government persists in doing the opposite.
