Unwed
parents wrecking families, says British study
Tuesday December 07, 2010 05:49:22 PM,
IANS
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London:
Nearly half of children born today in Britain will be living in
broken homes by the age of 16 as growing numbers of families split
up.
The sharp increase in unmarried couples having children was to
blame for the rise in parental separation rates, says a study from
the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) think-tank in the UK.
The report called for a major shift in policy to reassert the
"vital" importance of marriage as a more stable form of commitment
than cohabitation.
The research suggested that the taxpayer spent billions of pounds
on benefits for single parents as a result of the "utterly
avoidable" breakdown in families every year, reports the
Telegraph.
It followed concerns from Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions
secretary, that society pays a "heavy price" for separation, in
terms of the cost of crimes committed by children from broken
homes, lost taxes and rising benefit bills.
Growing numbers of couples are choosing to start a family without
getting married first. But the study cited figures showing that
unmarried couples were more likely to separate.
It warned that the number of children who will see their parents
split up by the time they are 16 had risen from 40 percent in the
mid-1980s to 48 percent today.
The study drew on figures from the Office for National Statistics
and the Millennium Cohort Study and took account of differing
levels of education and income.
It was authored by Harry Benson, founder of the Bristol Community
Family Trust, a relationship education charity.
Benson said ministers should focus on improving the stability of
unmarried couples through education and policies that promote
marriage.
In 1980 there were one million single parents, but this has now
doubled, he said. "Something has gone badly wrong in the
intervening years and no government has got to grips with the
problem."
Gavin Poole, the executive director of the CSJ, said "it is well
known that children from broken homes do less well at school and
are more likely to turn to drugs, alcohol and crime."
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