surestart Archives - Marriage Foundation

It’s not ‘cuts’ that put children in care

I could have written it myself. In her foreword for a new report from IFS on spending on children’s services, Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield, said this: ‘Children do not arrive in extreme need overnight and many could be prevented from getting to that point if we helped them sooner in a more effective way. ‘The economic […]

It’s time to ditch useless family interventions and back marriage

This article was first published 18 October 2016 on ConservativeHome As if we needed more evidence that government is hopeless at running large scale family interventions, this week’s report from think tank NIESR reveals that the government’s flagship ‘Troubled Families’ programme has had no impact whatsoever across a range of outcomes. The evaluation ‘was unable to find consistent evidence […]

Family breakdown costs £50bn a year

When couples split up, families move from one to two households. Poverty is a common outcome that affects children. Six out of ten lone parents are supported by the state compared to one out of ten couple parents. That's where most of the £50bn is spent.

UK Among highest family breakdown in Europe

Five years ago, the UK had the highest rate of family breakdown in Europe. We're not doing as badly today, but only because of big falls in divorce rates. Alas there's no sign of a similar improvement among cohabitees

Lower Divorce Rates – Higher Lone Parents

Divorce rates have plummeted over the past 3 decades, but the number of lone parents has doubled in the same period. Why?... Because unmarried parents make up only one in five cohabiting parents but are responsible for one half of all family breakdown.

Stability is found in Marriage

Whereas stability is the norm if parents are married (75% stay together), it is the exception if they are not (30% stay together). As a result, among parents of teens who are still together as a couple, nine out of ten are married

Single Most Important Factor

The single most important factor in a child’s healthy development is the stable relationship of the parents. Our groundbreaking research shows that family breakdown is the #1 predictor of teenage mental health problems.

The Marriage Foundation is registered as a charity in England and Wales.

Registered charity number: 1150453

Site by Orange and Blue

Tag: surestart

It’s not ‘cuts’ that put children in care

It’s time to ditch useless family interventions and back marriage

Sign up for updates