International Family Day is not as warm and fuzzy as it sounds – it is a day used to mark the economic contribution families make to a country, and whilst we find the idea that this has actually been made into a ‘thing’ quite grotesque, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released some interesting data for today, so we’re sharing it.
In a bid to make their data engaging and “on-trend”, the ONS have titled their information, “Men in Charge? Gender Equality and Children’s Rights in Contemporary Families”. (Is it just us, or is there an implicit Tory-flavoured dig at men here in an attempt to goad them? Who uses the phrase “in charge” any more?)
The 5 facts on offer are as follows:
- Cohabiting couple families were the fastest growing family type since 1996
- Number of working families peaked in 2014 at 87.7%, the highest since 1996
- Largest increase in the percentage of working families since 1996 has been in lone parent families
- Fathers are over 6 times more likely to be working than mothers, in families with one working parent
- Children with relatively high life satisfaction are 2.5 times more likely to talk to parents
We’re not quite sure where the emphasis on children’s rights hits this data (point 5 is a gloss on the matter), though we think we’ve made our point about this release being more of a marketing exercise than a valuable public service style announcement…
You can catch the stats and graphs in all their glory, here.
Thank you to Dana for sharing this with us.
Researching Reform 
Reblogged this on World4Justice : NOW! Lobby Forum..
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The numbers I want to see are:
The true incidence of adoption breakdown and whether the removal was what we would consider contentious e.g. made up faux criteria.
The figures shrouded in even more secrecy in that the incidence of abuse, whether physical or sexual towards fostered and adopted children
The figures of “rule bending” and unsuitable people being approved e.g. those with criminal records, for adoptive selection.
The true figures of extra family guardianships and why this country remains the lowest on this planet in such instances when other nations have shown that family guardianships not only have a very low failure rate but also allows for potential rehabilitation of parent/parents for example a recurring drug problem and allows them to participate in their child’s life.
On top of that I think we would all like to see published publicly council complaint statistics because they too are somewhat shrouded and ahem “edited” when we know very few complaints are ever upheld especially in the face of black and white evidence or material evidence to the contrary of council findings.
On another subject, I had my face somewhat rubbed in it today, an ex social worker who is now with the FAD team asked me whether I would consider adopting an older child and its like hold on, I ain’t good enough for my own blood but I am good enough for an older strangers child? I probably would consider it as I am one that enjoys the challenges of parenting but they know I am mentally ill as well and its like an OMG moment 😦
Apparently only 768 children were adopted last year according to the Independent and the paper (which my late mother must be spinning in her grave about as she was one of the founders of it) was heavily critical of Munby missing the point entirely that the law states the child has a right to family and that if assessing family members is getting in the way of adoption agencies profits, then it shows what the real master is here, profit and greed, nothing to do with childrens welfare.
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