Thursday, November 20, 2003
Don't give me the facts - I prefer a good story
New Zealand's Minister of Social Development - he who administers the country's vast welfare budget - has scored a perfect own goal. Steve Maharey told a family conference in Wellington yesterday that sole-mother families are just as good as the traditional "nuclear family" of mum, dad and kids. "I know of no social science that says a nuclear family is more successful than other kinds. It's whether you have a loving, nurturing family."
Whew! What planet does Mr Maharey live on? For a start, he's totally ignoring advice from his own senior departmental officials.
As ACT MP Muriel Newman delighted in pointing out immediately, the Social Development Ministry's June 2002 Social Policy Journal said that significant risks to children include `being in contact with the benefit system at birth', `living with a sole caregiver at first contact' and having a caregiver who is `in receipt of the Domestic Purposes Benefit'. These conclusions are consistent with the publicly-stated views of the Child Youth and Family Department's Head of Maori Strategy, Peter Douglas, who identified that significant risks exist to children who live in a sole parent family.
In fact, there's a mountain of research worldwide which shows that, in general, children in two-parent families do better than children in other households, and as Minister in this portfolio, Mr Maharey ought to know it. But then, ideology trumps fact every time.
New Zealand's Minister of Social Development - he who administers the country's vast welfare budget - has scored a perfect own goal. Steve Maharey told a family conference in Wellington yesterday that sole-mother families are just as good as the traditional "nuclear family" of mum, dad and kids. "I know of no social science that says a nuclear family is more successful than other kinds. It's whether you have a loving, nurturing family."
Whew! What planet does Mr Maharey live on? For a start, he's totally ignoring advice from his own senior departmental officials.
As ACT MP Muriel Newman delighted in pointing out immediately, the Social Development Ministry's June 2002 Social Policy Journal said that significant risks to children include `being in contact with the benefit system at birth', `living with a sole caregiver at first contact' and having a caregiver who is `in receipt of the Domestic Purposes Benefit'. These conclusions are consistent with the publicly-stated views of the Child Youth and Family Department's Head of Maori Strategy, Peter Douglas, who identified that significant risks exist to children who live in a sole parent family.
In fact, there's a mountain of research worldwide which shows that, in general, children in two-parent families do better than children in other households, and as Minister in this portfolio, Mr Maharey ought to know it. But then, ideology trumps fact every time.
