'Broken' families
"What is certain is that almost all of society's social ills can be traced directly to the collapse of the family life," he said.However, Mr Justice Coleridge, who heads family courts in the south west of England, did not criticise single parents directly."I am not saying every broken family produces dysfunctional children but I am saying that almost every dysfunctional child is the product of a broken family."What is government doing to recognise and face up to the emerging situation? The answer is: very little and nothing like enough."It is fiddling whilst Rome burns."
Mr Justice Coleridge outlined a number of recommendations to improve the societal ills he described.The suggestions included placing family justice at the top of the political agenda; allocating more staffing and money to family issues; better funding for contact centres to aid family cohesion; and extensive reforms of the laws relating to divorce, cohabitation and financial relief.On the issue of legal reforms, Mr Justice Coleridge said divorce law and those relating to financial orders were "last properly reformed two generations ago, in the mid-60s, when society was altogether different."The current laws are not suited to modern social mores of the way we live now."
'Challenging circumstances'
A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Families and Schools said: "Most children and young people in England today are safe, healthy, and achieve well."She added: "We do not agree that there has been a breakdown in the family - 70% of families are headed by a married couple.
"And a recent BBC poll suggests that three-quarters of people in Britain are optimistic about the future of their families, 24% higher than when the same question was asked in 1964."The spokeswoman said the Children's Plan put children and families at the centre of everything the government did.Meanwhile, more than £250m was being spent developing local services for parents in England, focusing on those in "challenging circumstances".David Laws, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for children, schools and families, said the judge was highlighting trends dating back at least 20 years."This government is not the source of the family breakdown problem but policies such as the operation of tax credits have made it more difficult for some families to bring up children in stable, two-parent households," he said.
As in the days of Noah....