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Research And Policy News

Current research and policy news from Government departments, research centres, publishers, and relationships and family organisations, along with links to further information.

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August 2008

29 August 2008

Provisional divorce statistics for 2007

National Statistics have released provisional divorce and civil partnership dissolution figures for 2007. The divorce rate has fallen to 11.9 divorced per thousand married men and women.

28 August 2008

Publication of findings relating to youth sector support arrangements

On 16th January 2008, Children, Young People and Families Minister Beverley Hughes, launched a 12 week call for evidence consultation to gather information, advice and views on current youth sector support arrangements. This call for evidence has provided a helpful insight and there is clear recognition that current arrangements are confusing on the key issues such as quality assurance and workforce development. The Government's next step is to carry out in-depth work with key partners to understand the issues behind the findings.

28 August 2008

DWP Research Report: Relationship separation and child support study

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have collected data on separated adults to examine the circumstances of people who have a child maintenance interest. It was found that most parents said they would consider using a professional organisation if they needed information or support in relation to child maintenance in the future. Key areas which parents felt they may require information were working out how much maintenance to pay or collect and what to do if there are problems with child maintenance payments.

28 August 2008

Spouses and civil partners to receive more when partner dies without leaving a will

Married couples and civil partners whose spouse or civil partner dies without leaving a will are to benefit from an increase in the statutory legacy under new proposals published by the government. From the 1st February 2009 the new levels of the statutory legacy will increase from £125,000 and £200,000 to £250,000 and £450,000.

28 August 2008

SPRU research for the new C4EO

The Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) is to undertake a major piece of research for the new Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children's and Young People's Services (C4EO), to be carried out between summer 2008 and spring 2011. The 2 areas of research will be the effectiveness and costs of early intervention for sleep problems and the effectiveness and costs of different modes of delivering behaviour management interventions to parents of disabled children.

28 August 2008

Functional Family Therapy Program in Brighton

Brighton is the focus of the first UK trial of a family intervention shown in the USA to have a big impact on conduct disorder, violent acting-out and substance abuse among young people. The program uses Functional Family Therapy, suggesting that children's behaviour is a product of relationships and communication within the family. Eligible participants for the program in Brighton will be aged between 11 and 18 with a history of offending, anti-social behaviour and drug and alcohol misuse.

28 August 2008

Influence of environments determined by genetic make-up

Brad Sheese and his colleagues at the University of Oregon have been looking at the influence of the allele for the attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a group of children aged 18-21 months old. The researchers found that having the allele did not necessarily translate into behaviour problems, but the allele plus poor parenting tended to result in sensation seeking behaviour. Rather than suggesting that children are fated to their problems by their genes, these findings suggest that certain children are more influenced by their environments because of their genetic make-up.

22 August 2008

Population and migration statistics released

A range of statistics relating to population and migration have been released by the Office for National Statistics, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office.

22 August 2008

Stressed mothers-to-be warned about schizophrenia risk

A study published in the journal BMC Psychiatry, suggests that women subjected to severe stress during pregnancy risk giving birth to children who develop schizophrenia. The researchers found that children of Israeli women who were pregnant during the 1967 Six Day War had a significantly increased chance of being diagnosed with the psychotic disorder over the next 21 to 33 years.

21 August 2008

New survey shows Britons are adapting to credit crunch

The YouGov survey, commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation, shows that the nation is adapting in the clutches of the credit crunch. Although worry and stress are widespread, many people are taking a practical approach by making lifestyle changes, such as being more physically active and preparing meals from scratch.

21 August 2008

Eight NCDS survey commences

The 50th anniversary follow up of the National Child Development Study (NCDS) cohort has now begun. The eighth sweep of the study includes a 60 minute face to face interview and a paper self-completion questionnaire. Fieldwork is being conducted by the National Centre for Social Research and will run until early next year.

21 August 2008

Don't lose out through holiday heartbreak

A recent study, conducted by Expedia and Match.com, found that 42% of Brits have argued with their partners on holiday, with one in ten splitting up while abroad. Breaking up can be especially messy if you're cohabiting with your significant other and you don't know your rights. According to a survey into social attitudes, 50.7% of people think that couples who have lived together for a while have the same rights as married or civil partners. However, only couples who marry or enter into a civil partnership will get certain rights, including legal recognition of their relationship.

21 August 2008

£4.5 million for positive youth activities and to improve community relations

The Children's Minister, Beverley Hughes has outlined a £4.5 million cash injection enabling young people across the country to experience adventure, arts and residential summer camps. Some of the extra funding will give young people, particularly those in deprived areas, the chance to attend community cohesion camps to develop their social and emotional skills. Activities and projects will bring together young people from different backgrounds and promote positive community relations.

21 August 2008

UK children's policy shows signs of changing direction

A shift in children's policy is detectable by a series of papers on the long term effects of early deprivation by leading education researcher Leon Feinstein, Director of the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning at the Institute of Education, London. Feinstein's attention is being paid to the processes that underpin children's services, such as the social care workforce and education, representing a clearer shift from a purely outcome-driven agenda.

21 August 2008

Adding a new dimension to UK foster care

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) is a fostering program for children with emotional or behavioural problems and has been successfully piloted in various sites across the UK. The program has now been renamed MTFCE (the E stands for England) for UK consumption. The MTFCE has an extra dimension that traditional foster care does not, it requires children to remain in one placement for a minimum of six months and a significant investment in birth parents is made to guarantee that encouragement, consistency and discipline are carried forward upon return to the family home.

14 August 2008

A call to action for the capital's families

Organisations from across London are pledging to do more to tackle child poverty in the capital. By signing the London Child Poverty Pledge, these organisations aim to improve the services they provide for disadvantaged families and assess whether their own employment practices are family-friendly, enabling local parents to succeed in work.

14 August 2008

APA finds single abortion is not a threat to women's mental health

According to a draft report released by the American Psychological Association (APA), there is no evidence that a single abortion of an unwanted pregnancy causes mental health problems for adult women. The APA reached its conclusions after evaluating all of the empirical studies published in English in peer-reviewed journals since 1989 that compared the mental health of women who had an induced abortion to comparison groups of women.

14 August 2008

PSI research contributes to welfare reform

The Policy Studies Institute (PSI) has carried out a 17 year programme of research on Britain's low income parents and lone parent families that established the Families and Children Survey as a national resource for the study of child poverty. From this work it has become clear that the government withdraws the majority of child maintenance payments against income support and this stands in the way of abolishing child poverty. If lone parents and step families were allowed to keep child support payments it would increase the incomes of many of the poorest families.

14 August 2008

Don't blame parents for bullying

A study at Kings College, London assessed whether genes could account for the behaviour of bullying by looking at the behaviour of both fraternal and identical twins. It was found that children's tendencies to bully or be victimized was largely explained by their genetic make-up. Children's 'shared environments', which include their parenting did not account for their bully or victim status.

14 August 2008

Link between anxiety in children and overprotective caregivers

Researchers from Southampton University have tested the idea that overprotective caregivers cause their children to see the world as threatening and to feel they need protection. It was found that children over the age of ten whose mothers tended to be overprotective identified angry faces, as opposed to happy or neutral faces, more quickly than children with more relaxed mothers. This might suggest that parents have a great deal of influence over how their children perceive the world.

07 August 2008

New survey from Young Minds on parents' concern for teenage children

46% of parents contacting the Young Minds Parents Information Service were concerned about their 12 to 16 year olds, a third of which suggested that children had serious mental health problems. Among other things, parents expressed concern about parent-child relationships and family breakdown.

07 August 2008

fpa survey of professionals working in learning disability

fpa conducted a survey in which they found that 94% of professionals working in learning disability thought barriers prevented people with learning disabilities having sex and forming relationships. In a survey of young people with learning disabilities 63% said they wanted to know more about sex and relationships.

07 August 2008

New report from TSA on parents of young people who have mental health difficulties

The Trust for the Study of Adolescence (TSA) has published a new report entitled The needs and experiences of parents of young people who have mental health difficulties. The report considers the needs of parents caring for young people with mental health difficulties and that support is needed but not always forthcoming.

07 August 2008

Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Michael Gove, speech to IPPR

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families has made a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research arguing that relationships are the key to building a better, happier and fairer society and that strong family relationships must be the cornerstone of any effective family poverty strategy.

04 August 2008

World Breastfeeding Week

Public Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo, has announced an extra £2 million investment to help more women to breastfeed. The announcement has been made to coincide with World Breastfeeding Week.

04 August 2008

New report from FPI on rise in repossessions and family life

The Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) has published a new report entitled Homes fit for families. The report shows that an increase in the number of homes repossessed may lead to a rise in family arguments, sleep deprivation and a lack of privacy for parents.

04 August 2008

Working paper from Fragile Families on relationship transitions

The Fragile Families study has produced a working paper entitled Relationship transitions and maternal parenting. The working paper looks at family structure during the first five years of child's life and in particular at the mothers relationship transitions during that time.

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