'The manifesto on
families put out by the Labour party is right about one thing;’ says
FNF Chair John Baker. 'It is the headline - but there is no
follow up.'
The headline puts
parenting as the priority for family policy.
Above all else, children
need the love and care of their parents. With this all else
follows. Without it, improving the standard of school meals
and so on is trivial.
Four million children
live apart from one of their natural parents. Most want to see
more of their 'other parent' than they are allowed.
Some 2 – 2.5 million
parents live apart from one or more of their natural children.
Most of them want to see more of them than they are
allowed.
There is an enormous
fund of loving, caring parenting waiting to be tapped.
If this were tapped, the
following problems would be reduced:
The distress of
children. Losing a parent following divorce or separation
causes more damage to the lives of children than losing one
through death. There are more children 'socially orphaned' by
separation or divorce today than were physically orphaned by death
in Victorian times.
The distress of
parents. When a child is abducted, even if the child is
known to be physically safe, the distress of the parents is
recognised. Parents can feel the same about children they
are prevented from seeing following parental
separation.
Less physical and
mental illness, deviance, teenage pregnancy and law
breaking. This is associated with insufficient parenting,
often following separation or divorce.
Less child abuse and
ill-treatment. This is associated with parents who have more
than they can cope with, often following the exclusion of one of
the child's parents.
Less child
poverty. Parents involved with their children share their
money with them and with their ex's. Both parents are able to earn
money without the children losing out on time with a parent as a
result.
Less need for
institutional childcare, as both parents can look after the
children.
Less of a burden on
the taxpayer. Savings in the cost of childcare, social
security, the child support agency, the costs of social
problems....
The priority for family
policy must be to enable children to have all the love and care from
their parents that is available. This involves changing the
law and attitudes so that children are allowed to have this, even if
the parents do not live together. The government has no
effective proposals on this score.
They
have rejected the proposal from MPs that, when considering the
‘welfare checklist’ as required by the Children Act 1989, courts
should take into account a child’s underlying need for the full
involvement of both parents as far as
practical.
Please
see Families Need Fathers ‘programme for change’ Father’s Day
Manifesto.
at
www.fnf.org.uk/manifesto.htm
For
comment or information please contact:
John Baker
(FNF Chair) 07881 644917 or 01273 643490
Jim Parton
(Editor and Media Representative) 07910 568259
Ian Mackay 01920 462825 or 07963 343615
Matthew
Stannard 07941
455659
FNF Head
Office 020 7613 5060
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