A report by a think tank allied to the opposition Conservative Party examined a wide range of social problems, which it largely blamed on the breakdown of traditional marriage. Companion volumes covered economic dependency and worklessness; family breakdown; addictions; educational failure; consumer indebtedness; and the third sector.
Source: Breakdown Britain: Interim report on the state of the nation, Centre for Social Justice (020 7620 1120)
Links: Report | Economic dependence | Family breakdown | Addictions | Educational failure | Indebtedness | Third sector | CSJ press release | CPAG press release | OPF press release | NCH press release | NCVO press release | Acevo press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Dec
An independent national inquiry into childhood was launched. The inquiry was designed to examine the views of children, young people, and adults about their experience and understanding of childhood in modern society; identify and address the most important issues facing children and young people; and make recommendations to improve the way in which childhood was experienced and understood. The launch report said that, for young people in particular, there was evidence to suggest that improved economic conditions were associated with increasing levels of emotional problems.
Source: Esther Hughes, Larissa Pople, Ros Medforth, Gwyther Rees and Celia Rutherford, Good Childhood? A question for our times, Children?s Society (020 7841 4415)
Links: Launch report | Summary | Children's Society press release | Church of England press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Sep
The government launched a policy review of services for children and young people. The review would inform decisions in the 2007 comprehensive spending review on what further steps could be taken to improve the life chances of children and young people.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 5 July 2006, columns 37-38WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Terms of reference | HMT press release
Date: 2006-Jul
The Northern Ireland Executive announced a ten-year strategy for children and young people in Northern Ireland. It said that more needed to be done for children and young people who were either disadvantaged or marginalized.
Source: Our Children and Young People ? Our Pledge, Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 0500)
Links: Strategy | NIE press release | NICCY press release
Date: 2006-Jun
A special issue of a journal focused on childhood. Articles examined questions about children s status and state intervention; what the children of working parents needed; the government s progress towards meeting child poverty targets; the gaps between policy and teenage lives; advertising and obesity; child mental health; and policy responses to declining birth rates in Europe.
Source: Public Policy Research, Volume 13 Issue 1
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2006-Jun
A report examined the problems and possibilities of incorporating a children as researchers perspective into the agenda of government social research in Scotland.
Source: Julie Brownlie, Simon Anderson, and Rachel Ormston, Children As Researchers, Scottish Executive (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jun
An annual survey report examined the characteristics and circumstances of families and children in 2004. These included family characteristics such as parental health, education, work, family income, benefits and tax credits, savings, housing and material deprivation; and child characteristics such as health, schooling, activities and leisure, maintenance, and childcare. There had been a 5 percentage points increase in the number of mothers who said the desire to spend more time with their children was stopping them from working longer hours.
Source: Matt Barnes, Nick Lyon and Daniel Sweiry, Families With Children in Britain: Findings from the 2004 Families and Children Study (FACS), Research Report 340, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release (1) | DWP press release (2) | BBC report
Date: 2006-Apr
An article provided an overview of New Labour policies for children - policies which simultaneously invested in children and regulated them and their parents/mothers. It suggested ways in which the 'social investment' approach might be modified in the interests of children s well-being, by reference to principles of (gendered) social justice.
Source: Ruth Lister, 'Children (but not women) first: New Labour, child welfare and gender', Critical Social Policy, Volume 26 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined aspects of the relationship between social law and family law in Sweden, Norway and Great Britain. It considered how family law provisions affected the distribution of public financial support, and also the way systems of public financial support affected families.
Source: Eva Ryrstedt, 'Family law and social law: reciprocal dependency in a comparative perspective', International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, Volume 20 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined recent research that had prioritized children's accounts of their experiences of their daily lives. It focused on gender differences in accounts of family life, friendships, use of public space, use of out-of-school care, popular culture and consumption, and children's views of gender differences.
Source: Virginia Morrow, 'Understanding gender differences in context: implications for young children's everyday lives', Children & Society, Volume 20 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
A new book examined family change, parental employment, and social policy in the five Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. In all these countries family forms had been profoundly affected by lower fertility rates, lower marriage rates, increased cohabitation, higher risks of relationship breakdown, and episodes of lone parenthood. These changes had also been linked to an increase in the proportion of mothers participating in the labour market.
Source: Jonathan Bradshaw and Aksel Hatland (eds.), Social Policy, Employment and Family Change in Comparative Perspective, Edward Elgar Publishing (01242 226934)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Apr
A paper challenged the 'individualization' thesis of the family, which suggested a weakening of the social ties of kinship and marriage.
Source: Simon Duncan and Darren Smith, Individualisation Versus the Geography of New Families, Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group/South Bank University (020 7815 5750)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2006-Apr
A paper advanced the hypothesis that transfers of contact/in-kind help and money between parents and an adult child reflected concerns for fairness and reciprocity, and could be interpreted as a gift exchange .
Source: John Ermisch, Fairness in the Family: Implications for parent-adult child interactions, Working Paper 2006-13, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2006-Apr
A think-tank report said that women continued to take greater responsibility for housework and looking after children, particularly when the normal routines of family life were disrupted. Fathers wanted to play a more active role in family life, but lacked the necessary skills and confidence to do so. The report proposed a range of measures to support families in the home, such as family life vouchers , which could be put towards a range of activities, from help with cleaning the home to extra-curricular activities for children.
Source: Hannah Green and Sophia Parker, The Other Glass Ceiling: The domestic politics of parenting, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Demos press release
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined experiences of undertaking health and social research involving children (in Australia and England), and focused on securing the informed consent of children to participate in such research.
Source: Rachel Balen et al., 'Involving children in health and social research: 'human becomings or active beings ?', Childhood, Volume 13 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Mar
The government announced (in the 2006 Budget) a joint policy review by HM Treasury and Department for Education and Skills of children and young people, to inform the 2007 comprehensive spending review. There would be a focus on support for families with disabled children, youth services, and services for families at risk of becoming locked into a cycle of low achievement.
Source: Budget 2006: A strong and strengthening economy - Investing in Britain s future, Cm 968, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HMT press release | SEU press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A think-tank report said that the family thrived in countries in which the government did not interfere with it, based on a comparison of family policy in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Italy.
Source: Patricia Morgan, Family Policy, Family Changes: Sweden, Italy and Britain compared, Civitas (020 7401 5470)
Links: Civitas press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A new book challenged the existing 'moral panic' surrounding children and young people and how they got on with adults, suggesting that the reality was much more positive. It said that although parents viewed their own children positively they might be unconsciously contributing to negative stereotypes of children in general.
Source: Nicola Madge, Children These Days, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary | Policy Press press release | NCB press release
Date: 2006-Feb
An article provided an overview of the aims, methodology, and recommendations of the Children's Society's 'Good Childhood Inquiry'. It called for a change in attitude towards children and young people, and said that the eradication of financial inequality and age discrimination needed to be prioritized in existing legislation and policy to ensure a good childhood for all children.
Source: Bob Reitemeier, 'Striving to achieve a good childhood for all', Benefits: Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 17 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan
The Welsh Assembly Government established seven core aims to underpin all of its work for children and young people. The aims were taken directly from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Source: Press release 25 January 2006, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Link removed
Date: 2006-Jan
An article said that investing in children and creating responsible parents were vital features of many of the policies and service initiatives which had emerged since 1997.
Source: Brid Featherstone, 'Rethinking family support in the current policy context', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 36 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan