Judge attacks government over families in "meltdown"
Judge says families are in "meltdown"
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Saturday, 05, Apr 2008 09:49
A senior British judge has attacked the government over a "meltdown" in family life, which is pushing children into drugs and crime.
Mr Justice Coleridge said: "What is certain is that almost all of society's social ills can be traced directly to the collapse of the family life," in a speech to lawyers from Resolution, formerly the Solicitors' Family Law Association.
The 58-year-old judge also said the government is not doing enough to tackle the issue.
He said: "In some of the more heavily-populated urban areas of the country family life is, quite frankly, in meltdown or completely unrecognisable.
"So I suggest the general collapse of ordinary family life, because of the breakdown of families, in this country is on a scale, depth and breadth which few of us could have imagined even a decade ago.
"And what is government doing to recognise and face up to the emerging situation? The answer is: very little and nothing like enough.
"It is fiddling whilst Rome burns."
But a spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Families and Schools said: "We do not agree that there has been a breakdown in the family – 70 per cent of families are headed by a married couple.
"And a recent BBC poll suggests that three-quarters of people in Britain are optimistic about the future of their families, 24 per cent higher than when the same question was asked in 1964."