In welcoming the report of the Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances by Frank Field (1), the Relationships Foundation notes with interest his call for the appointment of a Cabinet Minister for Foundation Years at the next reshuffle. The Relationships Foundation, however, remains adamant that we would rather see a Cabinet Minister for families to ensure a more integrated family policy.(2)
In our submission to Frank Field’s review we emphasised the importance of relational as well as material poverty. We therefore welcome his comment that:
‘I no longer believe that the poverty endured by all too many children can simply be measured by their parents’ lack of income. Something more fundamental than the scarcity of money is adversely dominating the lives of these children.’
The report calls for both national and local Indicators of Life Chances. These assessments will track how the government is performing in its goal of ‘raising the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of poorer (pre-school) children’. Alongside the newly announced national measure of wellbeing, this will make it all the more important that government policy supports those family relationships that are the foundation of both wellbeing and healthy development.
Maternal depression is one indicator that might well appear in both measures. The latest analysis of the millennium cohort study notes the lower levels of depression for married mothers and the much higher levels of reported depression ‘among solo mothers who had periods of time living with a partner but had reverted to being a lone parent at the time of the 5 –yr olds survey.’ (3) This illustrates why support for families must be an essential foundation for the government’s wider goals.
The report also emphasises the importance of authoritative parenting. Frank Field comments in the report that ‘Britain is witnessing a rupturing in its once strong parenting tradition.’ We support his call for the Cabinet Office’s Behavioural Insight Team to lead ‘an examination of how parenting and nurturing skills can be promoted throughout society’.
References
1. The Foundation Years: preventing poor children from becoming poor adults, Cabinet Office, December 2010
2. Kathleen Kiernan and Fiona Mensah, ‘Partnership trajectories, parent and child well-being’ in Children of the 21st century: the first five years, The Policy Press, 2010 p. 88