An article said that concepts of personal lives and intimacy could not capture the full range and nature of relations viewed through the lens of family. The political consequences of subsuming family within wider approaches were examined. The family (alongside intimacy and personal life) should be retained as a flexible, enduring, and necessary sociological framework.
Source: Val Gillies, 'From function to competence: engaging with the new politics of family', Sociological Research Online, Volume 16 Issue 4
Links: Article
Date: 2011-Dec
A report said that the traditional British family was a thing of the past. 8 out of 10 people described their family set-up as not traditional, or not conforming to the stereotypical two married parents with two or more children. The majority of people felt that their family was unrepresented by politicians, the media, and advertising, with 52 per cent claiming that the government did not take their family set-up into account.
Source: Family: Helping to understand the modern British family, Centre for the Modern Family (Scottish Widows)
Links: Report | Scottish Widows press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Dec
A report said that 'absentee' fathers were contributing to high levels of addiction, anti-social behaviour, and crime among young people. Not having a father left young people feeling angry, less confident, more insecure, and with self-esteem problems. The problem was set to worsen as intergenerational paternal absence became the norm in some of the poorest communities.
Source: Martin Glynn, Dad and Me: Research into the problems caused by absent fathers, Addaction
Links: Report | Addaction press release
Date: 2011-Oct
A report examined key research issues and policy questions about the family in European countries. It covered 7 cross-cutting themes: care, life course and transitions, doing family, migration and mobility, inequalities and insecurities, media and new information technologies, and family policies.
Source: Marina Rupp, Loreen Beier, Anna Dechant, and Christian Haag, Research Agenda on Families and Family Wellbeing for Europe, FAMILYPLATFORM (European Commission)
Links: Report | Summary | FAMILYPLATFORM press release
Date: 2011-Sep
A new book examined the treatment of cultural and religious identity (focusing on Islam) in family law in European countries.
Source: Andrea Buchler, Islamic Law in Europe? Legal pluralism and its limits in European family laws, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Sep
A new book examined the increasing Europeanization of family law, focusing on the termination by dissolution of marriages and marriage-like registered partnerships.
Source: Nynke Baarsma, The Europeanisation of International Family Law, TMC Asser Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Sep
A new book examined recent landmark cases in the development of family law in England and Wales.
Source: Stephen Gilmore, Jonathan Herring, and Rebecca Probert (eds.), Landmark Cases in Family Law, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined the issue of children's participation within professional frameworks, and in social policy generally.
Source: Sharon Pinkney, 'Discourses of children's participation: professionals, policies and practices', Social Policy and Society, Volume 10 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
A new book examined the processes by which lawmakers in England and Wales had attempted to influence human behaviour within the family.
Source: Mavis Maclean with Jacek Kurczewski, Making Family Law: A socio legal account of legislative process in England and Wales, 1985 to 2010, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jul
A new book examined 'understandings' of the day-to-day responsibilities that people undertook within families, and the role of the law in the construction of those understandings. It looked at what it meant to have family responsibilities, what constituted an adequate performance of such responsibilities, and the point at which the state intervened.
Source: Jo Bridgeman, Heather Keating, and Craig Lind (eds.), Regulating Family Responsibilities, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Jun
A briefing paper examined the debate over whether partners should be allowed to transfer their tax allowance to their spouse, so that the tax system might 'recognize' marriage.
Source: Antony Seely, Tax, Marriage & Transferable Allowances, Standard Note SN04392, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-Jun
A think-tank report said that children and their families were at risk of being overlooked by the coalition government's 'Big Society' and localism agendas. It highlighted the progress made over the previous two decades on family policy: but it said that too little had been done to put children at the centre of the vision for communities. Developing trusted relationships and networks for children and young people was fundamental to their development, well-being, and safety. Social capital for children and young people could keep children safe, transform neighbourhoods, break intergenerational cycles of neglect and deprivation, and prevent problems escalating.
Source: Duncan Fisher and Sandra Gruescu, Children and the Big Society: Backing communities to keep the next generation safe and happy, ResPublica
Links: Report | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Jun
A report said that the United Kingdom was almost the least 'family friendly' country in Europe. Financial and work pressures, combined with poor maternity/paternity provision and poor living environments, put UK families among the most pressured in Europe.
Source: John Ashcroft and Sam Barker with David Wong, The Family Pressure Gauge: A measurement of progress towards the goal of making Britain the 'most family friendly' country in Europe, Relationships Foundation
Links: Report | Relationships Foundation press release | Independent report
Date: 2011-May
A report (from a Tory-aligned think-tank) criticized the coalition government's record on supporting marriage and the family – giving it '2 out of 10' for its efforts to reverse high and damaging levels of family breakdown. Pre-election promises to reinstate a tax break for marriage had 'moved off radar'.
Source: Building a Social Recovery? A first year report card on the coalition government, Centre for Social Justice
Links: Report | CSJ press release | 4Children press release | Gingerbread press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-May
A bulletin presented statistics on the number of families by type, and children in families by type, in the United Kingdom. It also presented statistics on household size, household types, and people living alone. In 2010 there were 17.9 million families: of these, 12.2 million consisted of a married couple with or without children. The number of opposite-sex cohabiting couple families increased from 2.1 million in 2001 to 2.8 million in 2010; and the number of dependent children living in opposite-sex cohabiting couple families increased from 1.3 million to 1.8 million over the same period. There were 26 million households in 2010: of these, 29 per cent consisted of only one person and almost 20 per cent consisted of 4 or more people.
Source: Families and Households in the UK, 2001 to 2010, Office for National Statistics
Links: Bulletin
Date: 2011-Apr
An article examined how the different family policy regimes of 20 OECD countries related to children's well-being in the areas of child poverty, child mortality, and educational attainment and achievement. 'Dual-earner' regimes, combining high levels of support for paid parenting leave and public childcare, were strongly associated with low levels of child poverty and child mortality.
Source: Daniel Engster and Helena Olofsdotter Stensota, 'Do family policy regimes matter for children's well-being?', Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Volume 18 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined key features of the coalition government's 'Big Society' policies, with particular reference to children and young people, and to the voluntary/community sector working with them. Although there were many positive aspects to the policies, there was a lack of attention to the unique position of children in society, and an inconsistent conceptualization of the voluntary sector on which the policies relied.
Source: Kathy Evans, '"Big society" in the UK: a policy review', Children & Society, Volume 25 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
A report by a committee of the National Assembly for Wales summarized the work that it had done (since 2007) on issues relating to children and young people.
Source: Legacy Report, Children and Young People Committee, National Assembly for Wales
Links: Report | NAW press release
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined the focus by the former Labour government (1997-2010) on the family, and whether it represented a change compared with previous policies. Although there had been innovation, Labour's approach had drawn upon and reinforced existing philosophies around welfare and the family. Labour had sought a balance between its selectivist approach and a more universalist concern to elevate the family as an agent and source of social stability. Labour's policy had to be understood as part of an ideological project that was both social and economic in nature.
Source: Mary Daly, 'Shifts in family policy in the UK under New Labour', Journal of European Social Policy, Volume 25 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan
Two reports identified different types of parents/carers and children/young people based on their attitudes and behaviours towards issues that were important for the Department for Education. The nine 'segments' of parents/carers were: comfortable and confident; committed but discontented; struggling through; supportive but frustrated; relaxed and caring; stepping back; separate lives; family focused; and content and self-fulfilled. The seven 'segments' of children/young people were: growing and learning; happier at home; breaking the rules; anxious and unsure; weakening links; high ambitions; and exploring independence.
Source: Segmentation of Parents and Carers, Department for Education | Segmentation of Children and Young People, Department for Education
Links: Report (1) | Report (2)
Date: 2011-Jan
A report examined how tax and benefit changes announced in the 2010 'emergency' Budget and Spending Review would affect families. There was a 'very real risk' of child poverty rising over the longer term. Reducing the childcare element of tax credits and freezing working tax credit might have introduced new disincentives to work for parents. There was little if any evidence that policies that directly recognized marriage through the tax system either increased the marriage rate or lowered the risks of family breakdown. Eroding universal benefits raised 'challenging questions' about the purpose of the welfare state and the relationship that families on all incomes had with it. The principle of universal benefit remained secure for the older generation in terms of state pension, winter fuel payment, and free bus passes but not apparently for children. Changes to local housing allowance and to housing entitlement in the social housing sector could destabilize the living arrangements of many families. There was growing concern that the programme of welfare reform could go some way to restoring the 'male breadwinner, dependent female carer' family model.
Source: Families in an Age of Austerity: How tax and benefit reform will affect UK families, Family and Parenting Institute
Links: Report | Summary | Telegraph report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2011-Jan
An article examined trends in Scottish children's policy. Distinctive government structures had interacted with other influences to shape change, allowing more and 'new' room for community interests, political parties, and distinctive policies.
Source: Kay Tisdall and Malcolm Hill, 'Policy change under devolution: the prism of children's policy', Social Policy and Society, Volume 10 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan
A journal issue examined demographic change and the family in Europe.
Source: Veronika Herche (ed.), Demographic Change and the Family in Europe, FAMILYPLATFORM Online Journal, Volume 3, FAMILYPLATFORM, European Commission
Links: Journal
Date: 2011-Jan
A report examined the factors that were likely to have an impact on family well-being in Europe in the period to 2035. The report highlighted the importance of intergenerational solidarity and communities, the importance of sufficient time for families, and the issue of unpaid work/care arrangements.
Source: Olaf Kapella, Anne-Claire de Liedekerke, and Julie de Bergeyck, Foresight Report: Facets and Preconditions of Wellbeing of Families, FAMILYPLATFORM, European Commission
Links: Report | FAMILYPLATFORM press release
Date: 2011-Jan