St George S House Windsor Castle
St George’s House Windsor Castle
The Family Business
15 and 16 February, 2011
Over the course of two days and as the second in a series of four, a private Consultation was conducted in partnership with St Georges House in Windsor Castle to discuss the role of the family and the influence of the state. The Consultation brought together leading academics with practitioners, agony aunts, religious leaders and policy makers. The consultation was designed around presentations that considered issues relating to family courts, the role of the media in providing advice, experiences of young people in care and the impact of child poverty. The discussions were held in private but there were key points that participants agreed could be shared.
The Consultation was hosted by Elaine Hindal, Director, Campaign for Childhood, The Children’s Society; Gary McKeone, Programme Director, St George’s House, and Bob Reitemeier, Chief Executive, The Children’s Society.
Family conflict and the courts
Elissa Da Costa – Reflected on her experience of working both as a Barrister in family courts and as a mediator
Key discussion points and implications
- The current court system is not an environment or experience that is suitable for children or in fact for adults in relationship breakdown
- Mediation and collaborative processes are a more appropriate way of reaching resolutions
- Children’s voices should be heard, but it is not always reasonable to ask children to participate in parental conflicts
- Parents going through separation or divorce should be provided with balanced information/research on the impact of that experience on children. But, we should be wary of educating people about the impact of family breakdown on a child, at the expense of the possible damage caused by parent’s staying together.
Remote advice for parents
Denise Robertson gave a personal and insightful reflection on the role of agony aunts in providing information and advice to families in crisis
Key discussion points and implications
- There is a difference between information and advice and the first stage of support is to ensure that children and parents have access to good, accurate information. From that point on they are more able to seek and accept advice and support
- Online information is a great new resource, but it is only a first level of support and should not be seen as a replacement for community based support and advice
- Families seeking advice from the media should be sign-posted to local sources of support and information
Day two
The ultimate intervention in family life
Jim Davis from The Children’s Society interviewed three young people from The Children’s Society Lancashire Children’s Rights Service about their experience of local authority intervention.
The young people’s stories reflected the experience of living with parents who abuse drugs and alcohol, of living in foster care or with extended family and the challenging transition from foster care to independent living.
Key discussion points and implications
- Should young people be able to choose when they can move out of care? There should be greater flexibility about when young people leave care that takes into account the young person’s development and support needs and goes beyond a simple age-limit: To what extent is the business of family life something that should become the business of the big society?
- Both early intervention to prevent problems escalating and intervening when situations seem hopeless are legitimate actions. Examples were given where an earlier intervention would have been beneficial for the child: conversely, many agreed that even late interventions can help young people given the right support.
- Quality of state intervention is a big issue here – we are welcoming the Munro review. It was the experience of the young people that a number of their placements had failed and that the experience of multiple placements was in itself a poor experience.
Poverty and family life
Dr Tess Ridge from the University of Bath gave a detailed presentation on the nature and impact of poverty on the lives of children and families
Key discussion points and implications
- Work may be the best route out of poverty, but we still need to address concerns around employment quality, stability, and low pay. For some, getting a job can be financially unstable and risky because of the loss of benefits and the high risk of employment being very short-term or incompatible with childcare.
- In losing universal services, can we prevent targeted services from becoming stigmatising services?
- What will the burden be on the voluntary sector when they’re being asked to fill in the gaps of previously supported services?
- There is an important opportunity for The Children’s Society to put forward the case that families need support on many levels and that child and family poverty is a priority concern at a time of austerity and growing inequality.
This is a summary of the key points emerging from the considerable debate during the Consultation. It does not necessarily represent the views of The Children’s Society but is a reflection of all opinions expressed or statements that can be attributed to any particular participant. But the view of the Consultation is that the debate about family life and how society relates to the business of the family should be a continuing debate with the aspirations, views and needs of children central to that debate.
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