Children from broken homes 'nine times more likely to commit crimes'
Children from broken homes are nine times more likely to commit crimes than those from stable families, Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said.
By Andy Bloxham
Published: 7:30AM GMT 04 Nov 2010
Seven out of 10 offenders come from broken homes
Mr Duncan Smith said the breakdown of marriage had led to the fracturing of society, as well as addiction, crime and lost productivity and tax revenues that, in all, cost Britain around £100 billion a year.
He accused Labour of undermining family life during their time in government and said the country had paid a “heavy price”.
In a speech to Relate, a counselling charity, he said: “All the evidence shows that family influences educational outcomes, job prospects, and even life expectancy.
“That means that positive, family-friendly policies can bring wide-ranging benefits to society. But when government abandons policies that support families, society can pay a heavy price."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8109184/Children-from-broken-homes-nine-times-more-likely-to-commit-crimes.html
Divorce rows to be dealt with outside the courts as mediation to become compulsory
By Paul Bentley
Last updated at 8:27 AM on 18th October 2010
Thousands of feuds between divorcing couples will be dealt with outside the courts in an overhaul of the family justice system, it emerged last night.
Instead of dragging cases through the courts for weeks, a Whitehall review of the system will recommend a massive reduction in the levels of lawyer interference in divorce cases.
It will become compulsory for couples to try mediation before rushing into legal proceedings over disputes over children and money.
Last year, the number of disputes heard in courts rose 16 per cent to about 137,000. On average, childcare cases last 56 weeks.
Mr Norgrove said: ‘This is really intolerable for both children and parents — and damaging.’
Under the proposals, which will be published in full early next year, as many cases as possible will be dealt with by mediation.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1321447/Divorce-rows-dealt-outside-courts-mediation-compulsory.html#ixzz14QTTS9bF
Facebook increasingly implicated in divorce
By Richard Alleyne 4:34PM GMT 21 Jan 2011, The TelegraphFor most people, Facebook is a harmless way to keep in touch with friends and family
But flirtations on the social networking site are now becoming a major factor in marriage breakdowns.
Family lawyers have revealed that the problem has become so great that almost every divorce they have dealt with in the past year has involved the website. One expert said she had dealt with 30 cases in the last nine months and Facebook had been implicated in them all. Whilst another online law company said one in five of their divorce petitions in the past year contain references to Facebook.
Emma Patel, the head of family law at Hart Scales & Hodges Solicitors, said the site acted like a "virtual third party" in splits. "Facebook is being blamed for an increasing number of marital breakdowns, and it is quite remarkable that all the petitions that I have seen here since May have cited Facebook one way or another," she said. "Its huge popularity as well as the lure of sites like Second Life, Illicit Encounters and Friends Reunited are tempting couples to cheat on each other. Suspicious spouses have used these to spy and find evidence of flirting and even affairs, which have then led to break-ups."
She said that many of divorces came after partners found "flirty messages" on the Facebook wall of their partner – and also "inappropriate suggestive chats" which spouse's can see. The lawyer said that she urged all clients to "stay off" Facebook during divorce proceedings – as it could throw a spanner in the works of it going smoothly – especially if they post photos of new lovers.
She said: "They feel compelled to share their feelings online, and, in some cases, they not only express their stress, but also make inflammatory accusations against their partner. Divorce is a highly-charged and emotional time, but it is vital not to turn the situation into a public slagging match, played out for everyone to see online. The situation has deteriorated so badly that we advise feuding couples to avoid these sites until their divorces are settled."
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8274601/Facebook-increasingly-implicated-in-divorce.html
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Children 'used as ammunition' in separations
Parents who split up are damaging children's welfare by using them as 'ammunition', according to a senior court judge
Children are being used as ammunition in separations say a senior judge. Photograph: Getty/John Wilkes
Parents who split up are damaging their children's welfare by using them as "ammunition" in the separation process, according to England's most senior family court judge.
Sir Nicholas Wall said separating parents "rarely behave reasonably" and in his experience "the more intelligent the parent, the more intractable the dispute".
Published: 7:00PM BST 30 Oct 2010, Telegraph
Child protection: MPs must act on the scandal of seized children
Britain's child protection system is off the rails, and only the politicians who built it can fix it, says Christopher Booker
Britain's social workers took a beating again last week. On the orders of the children's minister, Tim Loughton, full versions of two harrowing case reviews of the Baby P tragedy were published. They found fault not only with Haringey's social workers but with lawyers, the police and health professionals, Under pressure from social workers, reviews of two similar cases in Yorkshire are still being kept under wraps.
Meanwhile, an Ofsted report found that 119 children died or suffered serious injury last year through social workers' failure to intervene.
Still largely hidden from view, however, is that other scandal, in its way just as disturbing, in which the failure of our child protection system is the very opposite: the seizure of thousands of children a year from loving homes, for no good reason.
Full article www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8098952/Child-protection-MPs-must-act-on-the-scandal-of-seized-children.html
Do children grow up to be abusers and/or victims?
The 'cycle of violence' otherwise known as the 'intergenerational theory' is often referred to when considering the effects of domestic violence on children; however research findings are inconsistent, and there is no automatic cause and effect relationship.
We believe that this theory is disempowering and ineffective when working with children. A boy who has witnessed domestic violence does not have to grow up to be an abuser and a girl does not have to become a victim of domestic violence later in life.
http://womensaid.org.uk/domestic_violence_topic.asp?section=0001000100220002§ionTitle=Children
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More information on Coercive Relationships
at www.tansal.org.uk/violencecoercive.html
More information on Coercive Relationships
at www.tansal.org.uk/violencecoercive.html
Ann Rule has written many true crime books, not only about women who suffer or die at the hands of people they know or who are complete strangers, but about men who do too. Her website is www.annrules.com
'But I Trusted You and other true cases'
'Too Late to Say Goodbye' - 'To all women who are living in fear of recrimination and stalking, in a kind of captivity, at the hands of men they once loved and trusted'
'Smoke, Mirrors and Murder' - Writing about 'pathological jealousy' Ann Rule says 'A woman in this kind of relationship is caught in a cage - as sure as if she were actually hemmed in by iron bars... What they once believed was true love was really their partners' need to control them.'
'Although SH and her children are safe, there are... women and children who are not. They are somewhere along the inexorable progression from the promise of love to disappointment to isolation to emotional abuse to fear to loss of hope... It shouldn't be that way.'
If You Are Violent - Anger, Stress, Trauma
Visit WHORLS 'Factors in Violence' page at
