A think-tank report argued that the Labour government should make children and families central to its future political programme.
Source: Patrick Diamond, Sunder Katwala and Meg Munn (eds.), Family Fortunes: The new politics of childhood, Fabian Society (020 7227 4900)
Links: Fabian Society press release | Extract
Date: 2004-Dec
A new book explored recent changes in family life. It examined demographic changes, including the growth in diversity and immigration; the role of mothers, and how the world of work affected their relationships with their children; fathers and their changing role; changes in the relationship between parents and children; the effects of external influences such as marketing and technology; and the relationship between the family and social support networks.
Source: Helen Barrett, UK Family Trends 1994-2004, National Family and Parenting Institute (020 7424 3460)
Links: NFPI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
An article said that the demand (by fathers' rights groups, for example) for pure equality between mothers and fathers ignored entirely the experiences of children who had lived in equal shares arrangements for many years, and reduced children to passive objects with no voice. Rather than pushing the principles of family law back towards 'simplistic' notions of equality, what was needed was a policy based on recognition rather than rights.
Source: Carol Smart, 'Equal shares: rights for fathers or recognition for children?', Critical Social Policy, Volume 24 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Nov
The Minister for Children defended state intervention in family policy. She said that the government wanted to promote opportunity for all, and to enable every child to develop their full potential. The state could be a powerful force for good in families and communities, and its role should be celebrated, not denigrated.
Source: The Guardian, 27 November 2004
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
A series of articles summarized the results of a five-year programme of research into changes in parenting and partnering and their implications for future social policies. The projects focused on different aspects of change: motherhood, care and employment; kin relationships after divorce; care and commitments in transnational families; practices of care and intimacy among those who lived without a co-resident partner; and collective values of care and support in self-help groups, voluntary organizations and trade unions.
Source: Social Policy and Society, Volume 3 Issue 4
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2004-Oct
A report said there was evidence of a growth in the level of participation work with children and young people in both the statutory and voluntary sectors. But there were marked variations between different types of statutory sector organization - although a considerable amount of work appeared to be undertaken in some organizations, particularly Connexions Services, Children's Fund partnerships and local government, it appeared to be more limited in those working in the fields of health and criminal justice, and in central and regional government.
Source: Carolyn Oldfield and Clare Fowler, Mapping Children and Young People s Participation in England, Research Report 584, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2004-Oct
An article summarized the government's Green Paper on children's services, focusing on three issues: the meaning of respect for children and childhood; whether children were seen as citizens of the present as well as the future; and the place of trust in the idea of the parent-state partnership. It highlighted particular tensions between entitlement and responsibility, protection and punishment, and in the scope of education.
Source: Fiona Williams, 'What matters is who works: why every child matters to New Labour: commentary on the DfES Green Paper Every Child Matters', Critical Social Policy, Volume 24 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Aug
A new book examined the ethical questions raised by research projects involving consultation with children and young people.
Source: Priscilla Alderson and Virginia Morrow, Ethics, Social Research and Consulting with Children and Young People, Institute of Education/University of London (020 7612 6050) and Barnardo's
Links: No link
Date: 2004-Jul
An annual guide was published to children and families in the United Kingdom. Topics covered include children at risk, children in care, poverty, education, health and homelessness. (The guide replaced 'NCH Factfile'.)
Source: Clare Horton (ed.), Working with Children 2004-05, Guardian (0870 066 7850) and NCH
Links: Summary | Flyer (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jul
An annual publication drew together information from a wide range of sources to provide a picture of what was happening to children and young people in Scotland. Levels of reported happiness among boys and girls increased between 1994 and 2002; and more than 9 out of 10 people rated their neighbourhood as very or fairly good. But the children who had the poorest start in life as a result of poverty and disadvantage were most likely to experience difficulty throughout their lives: child pedestrians from the poorest backgrounds were four times more likely to be killed in road accidents than those in the highest socio-economic groups; they also generally did less well in school, and were more likely to become unemployed and get into trouble with the law.
Source: Factfile Scotland: Facts and figures about Scotland s children, NCH Scotland (0141 332 4041)
Links: Report (pdf) | BBC report
Date: 2004-Jul
A 'Commission on Families and the Well Being of Children' was launched to consider: the state's function in supporting families in bringing up children; how far the state should intervene in the way families brought up children, and how it should approach families and children at risk; the role of the state in the way parents regulated their children's behaviour; how the relationship between state and family should be structured, and how transparent it should be.
Source: Press release 10 June 2004, NCH (020 7704 7000) and National Family and Parenting Institute
Links: NCH press release
Date: 2004-Jun
A new book called on the government to change the balance of its welfare reforms and citizenship programme in favour of the ethic of care. Care, as much as paid work, should be seen as the basis of citizenship, social cohesion and the promotion of equality. People's sense of commitment within family relationships was 'as strong as ever'. Government policy needed to support and acknowledge - practically and positively - people's sense of moral commitment to children, partners, parents and friends.
Source: Fiona Williams, Rethinking Families, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (020 7908 7604)
Links: Gulbenkian press release
Date: 2004-Jun
An article reported a study which used the accounts of parents, supplemented by those of their children (aged 13-17), to develop understanding of the role of families in the production and garnering of social capital. It argued that non-traditional family forms did not necessarily represent deficits in social capital, but rather might actively utilize alternative supportive factors and structures through previously unidentified family processes and network associations.
Source: Peter Seaman and Helen Sweeting, 'Assisting young people's access to social capital in contemporary families: a qualitative study', Journal of Youth Studies, Volume 7 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Jun
A special issue of the journal Children & Society focused on participation by children and young people, particularly in relation to differing notions of social exclusion and inclusion.
Source: Children & Society, Volume 18 Number 2
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2004-May
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on policy towards children and young people in Wales. It accepted a recommendation that powers over CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) in Wales should be transferred to the National Assembly for Wales.
Source: The Government Response to the First Report of the Committee Session 2003-04: The Empowerment of Children and Young People in Wales, Second Special Report (Session 2003-04), HC 459, House of Commons Welsh Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2004-Apr
The Scottish Executive began consultation on proposals to reduce the minimum period over which couples had to live apart before a divorce was granted, and to give parental rights and responsibilities to unmarried fathers who registered the birth of their child alongside the mother.
Source: Family Matters: Improving family law in Scotland , Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400)
Links: Consultation document | SE press release
Date: 2004-Apr
An article considered the implications for family policy of proposed changes to the registration of births, marriages and deaths. Changes in civil registration were seen as an essential condition for implementing other types of changes in the family policy arena.
Source: Janet Finch, 'Family policy and civil registration in England and Wales: an analysis of the White Paper Civil Registration: Vital Change', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 33 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Apr
A new book examined how ideas about sexuality not only informed people's personal lives, but also shaped social policy in specific ways - for example, in the areas of family policy.
Source: Jean Carabine (ed.), Sexualities: Personal lives and social policy, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-Apr
A research briefing summarised trends in families and in attitudes towards family life among the Scottish population.
Source: Anita Morrison, Debbie Headrick, Fran Wasoff and Sarah Morton, Family Formation and Dissolution: Trends and attitudes among the Scottish population, Research Findings 43/2004, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400)
Links: Findings | SE press release
Date: 2004-Mar
A children's charity set out a manifesto for children and families. It called for a 'consistent and trusted' universal infrastructure of services and support for all children and families, planned and co-ordinated at local level by children s trusts; an integrated children s programme, together with an 'outcome-focused and mainstreamed' children s fund, for all non-statutory, community-based services and support; and the creation of a new children s profession, with the child s whole needs at its core. The proposals would involve government spending on childcare and services for families doubling to 7 billion per year, and the creation of 10,000 children's centres in or around schools by 2015, providing every community with a wide range of services for children up to 16.
Source: Creating Opportunities, Building Futures, 4Children (formerly Kids Clubs Network) (020 7512 2100)
Links: Report (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Mar
Researchers explored the characteristics and circumstances of families in 2002, based on analysis of the Families and Children Study. 1 in 10 mothers described their health over the previous 12 months as not good . Parents of children aged 14-15 reported that 1 in 20 had been in contact with the police in the previous year, while 13 per cent were reported to have had problems with smoking, drinking or drugs. Of families with children, 5 per cent of couple families had no parent working any hours per week, but almost half (47 per cent) of lone parents were not working any hours. The barriers to work most frequently identified by mothers who were not looking to return to work were: a desire to spend time with their children (45 per cent), illness/disability (14 per cent), and affordability of childcare (12 per cent). Of lone-parent families, 34 per cent had a total family income of less than 200 per week, compared to 5 per cent of couple families. A fifth of all families in 2002 were in receipt of working families tax credit. Among families where at least one child had a non-resident parent, 52 per cent had an order or agreement for child support in place; of those with an order or assessment, 64 per cent had actually received payments. Being out of work had the strongest relationship with material deprivation: 26 per cent of both lone-parent and couple families with no one working, or working less than 16 hours per week, went without four or more leisure activities.
Source: Matt Barnes and Maxine Willitts, Families and Children in Britain: Findings from the 2002 Families and Children study (FACS), Research Report 206, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary (pdf) | DWP press release | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Mar
Three groups concerned with families - the Family Rights Group, Family Welfare Association and Parentline Plus - joined to create the 'Family Policy Alliance Project', a partnership aimed at giving service providers and parents a greater voice in the family policy arena.
Source: Press release 24 February 2004, Parentline Plus (020 7284 5500)
Links: Parentline plus press release
Date: 2004-Feb
A committee of MPs commended the Welsh Assembly for its work to promote children and young people's participation at all levels of life in Wales. It said it was 'unimpressed' with the existing form of the United Kingdom Youth Parliament and its dual role as the UK Youth Parliament and the English Youth Parliament, and recommended the establishment of a separate English Youth Parliament. It also said that powers over youth justice should be conferred on the Welsh Assembly.
Source: The Empowerment of Children and Young People in Wales, First Report (Session 2003-04), HC 177, House of Commons Welsh Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2004-Jan
A Welsh Assembly Government consultation paper addressed issues relating to policy and the provision of services for children and young people in Wales, and described briefly what had been achieved over the previous 3 years; set out ongoing activities; and outlined the way forward.
Source: Children and Young People: Rights to Action, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Consultation document (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jan