View Single Post
Old 22nd December 2009, 01:16 PM   #4
Dave
Administrator
 
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 1,576
UK Marriage News – Highlights from October to December 2009

UK Marriage News – Highlights from October to December 2009

Government and Political
Sham marriage boom after judges rule Home Office crackdown is illegal
(5 October No.9.37)
Sham marriages are booming after judges relaxed laws designed to prevent them, figures show reports the Daily Mail. The number of illegal immigrants who stage fake ceremonies to stay in the country is likely to top 500 this year, the highest level since 2004.Growing abuse of marriage laws appeared to have been stemmed that year after non-EU nationals were told they must apply for Home Office approval before marrying an EU citizen. But last year Law Lords said the rules against fake marriages breached human rights and could deny genuine couples the right to marry.

Tough new powers to help victims break cycle of violence (5 October No.9.37)
Violent partners will be banned from their homes and their victims given support to escape abuse under new proposals due to be unveiled by Home Secretary Alan Johnson. Police will be able to initiate a Domestic Violence Protection Order, also known as 'Go' orders, barring perpetrators of domestic violence from their homes for up to a fortnight, giving their victim breathing space to consider their options. Local caseworkers will use the period to advise the partner about services if they decide to leave the relationship including help to secure a longer-term injunction. Johnson said "We must never accept that violence against women and girls is best left behind closed doors."

Young people at heart of strategy to bring an end to violence against women
(30 November No.9.45)
An ambitious strategy aiming to bring an end to violence against women and girls has been set out by the Government. As well as measures to protect victims and tackle perpetrators, the 'Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls' strategy signals a new focus on preventing violence from happening. From 2011, preventing violence in relationships will be included in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, so attitudes which condone and perpetuate violence against women are addressed before they become entrenched in young people.
(But what about violence by women on men?)

Tories 'unashamedly' support marriage, pledges Miller (12 October No.9.38)
The Tories are ''unashamedly'' supporters of marriage, Maria Miller, the party's families spokeswoman said reports the Telegraph and the Daily Mail. Mrs Miller said it was proven that marriage provides a ''stable'' framework but denied the party wanted to go back to a 1950s-style ideal of family life. And she accused Labour of ''scaremongering'' for claiming the Tories would put the Sure Start children's centres at risk. Mrs Miller told the Conservative Party conference: ''More than nine out of ten 15-year-olds want to get married at some point in their lives. The Conservative Party unashamedly supports families, unashamedly supports marriage and this is what people aspire to and the Conservative Party have always been the party of aspiration. Marriage provides a sort of stable framework for our lives and, with the evidence right in front of us, it is madness not to support marriage. That is why we are committed to introducing the recognition of marriage in the tax and benefit system.''

Power to the grandparents: Tories to hand out sweeping legal rights to keep families together (26 October No.9.40)
Millions of grandparents will be given sweeping new legal rights if the Tories win the next election. The law will be changed to ensure they do not lose contact with their grandchildren after a family separation, divorce or bereavement. They will also be put at the front of the custody queue if their grandchildren face being fostered or taken into care. The changes were revealed by Shadow Cabinet minister David Willetts, who speaks for the party on the family, in an interview with the Daily Mail. He said it was a scandal that there was currently 'little or no' recognition of the vital role grandparents play in society. Research suggests they are increasingly relied upon by their children for help with childcare and finances, and by teenage grandchildren for advice and support they may not get at home. Grandparents currently have no rights to keep in contact with grandchildren after a parental split. Almost half face the heartbreak of being cut off completely and never seeing the youngsters again.

Evidence on strategies to reduce teenage pregnancy rates (26 October No.9.40)
Despite efforts by successive governments over the past 20 years, teenage pregnancy rates in the UK have remained stubbornly high says the Nursing Times. In 1999, a Teenage Pregnancy Strategy was launched with specific targets to achieve a 15% reduction in the under-18 conception rate in England by 2004, a 50% reduction by 2010, and to establish a long-term downward trend in the under-16 conception rate (Social Exclusion Unit, 1999). …….The article examines various aspects of the strategy and its implementation and concludes that despite more than £200m being spent on the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, there has been little discernible impact on conception rates, at least at a national level. The evidence that direct interventions such as improved school sex education and confidential access to family planning services help to lower teenage pregnancy rates is, at best, weak.

A wife's a wife, not a partner, says judge: the trendy term that downgrades marriage' (26 October No.9.40)
It is a description fast falling out of favour in these politically correct times, says the Daily Mail, but yesterday a judge launched a blistering attack on the modern practice by some men of calling their wife their 'partner'. A wife is a wife, he said, and to call her otherwise is to 'downgrade marriage'.

Cohabiting rights bad for women, says family law chief (23 November No.9.44)
A ‘divorce' law for cohabiting couples would harm children and strip couples of their right to live as they wish, a leading family lawyer has said reports the Daily Mail and the Times. It would also deal a blow to feminism and provide a bonanza for lawyers as couples look to grab a share of each other’s wealth, according to Baroness Deech. The Law Commission, the Government’s legal advisory body, has recommended that former live-in partners should be made to pay maintenance in the same way as divorcees if there are children from the relationship or if the couple have been living together for two years. However, Lady Deech, who is head of the barristers’ regulator, the Bar Standards Board, warned that such a law would invite blackmail and bullying from former partners. She added it ‘would be a windfall for lawyers but for no one else except the gold digger’. Labour is thought likely to bring in the law if it wins another term and Tory leaders are also sympathetic to the idea.


Couples to get marriage counselling on the NHS (23 November No.9.44)
Doctors and patients have condemned plans for couples who hit a 'rocky patch' to get free marriage guidance on the cash-strapped NHS according to the Daily Mail. Health secretary Andy Burnham will announce later this week that couples with relationship problems will be offered free counselling for up to six months. The controversial plans are part of a £270million programme to tackle depression.

Charities call for relationship aid (30 November No.9.45)
The government has been urged to put services that tackle relationship breakdown in every children's centre and school, and to train health and social care workers to handle relationship issues. The proposals, seen exclusively by CYP Now, have been set out by family charity coalition Kids in the Middle in a briefing expected to inform the forthcoming families and relationships green paper. Consisting of 29 of the country's leading family charities and children's organisations, the coalition wants any changes in family policy to be underpinned by a set of government principles akin to Every Child Matters, called Every Family Matters, based on consultation with parents, children and extended families.

Tories to ask: are you married? (30 November No.9.45)
Official forms will routinely demand to know whether a person is married under Conservative plans to promote stable families reports the Times. Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, claimed that, under Labour, marriage had become a “non official institution”. In an interview with The Sunday Times, he pledged that a future Tory government would make it a priority to raise the status of married life. He said “Marriage has almost disappeared from official forms …That needs to change.”

Only two in three children have married parents (7 December No.9.46)
The number of children being brought up by married parents has fallen to a historic low, official figures reveal says the Daily Mail. Fewer than two in three grow up in a traditional family compared to nearly three quarters of children when Labour came to power. The revelation comes only days after the head of the Government's family pressure group claimed that the state should not try to preserve the traditional family.
The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics in its annual report, Social Trends, found there were 8.3million dependent children living with married parents - a fall of 1.3million since 1997. At the same time, the number of dependent children - defined as those under 16 or aged up to 18 if they are still in school - in cohabiting households went up from one million to 1.7million, while those staying with single parents rose from 2.7million to 3.2million.


Research and Public Opinion

How marriage helps men off the dole and back into work (19 October No.9.39)
Being married is more important than education or having a mortgage in helping the unemployed get back to work, a study revealed says the Daily Mail. It found married men are 33 per cent more likely to find a job after being made redundant than those who are single or divorced. And it revealed being married was more important to finding work than having A-levels, which improved chances by 22 per cent, or a degree, which increased chances by 27 per cent. Having a mortgage also improved chances by 27 per cent. The study, by the Office for National Statistics and published in Economic & Labour Market Review, looked at the work histories of 2,368 men between 1991 and 2006, which were recorded in the British Household Panel Survey.

What women want (19 October No.9.39)
The recent study published by the Centre for Policy Studies on “What women want” based on an extensive YouGov poll contains an excellent chapter on marriage and cohabitation as viewed by women, and the conclusions of the report are wide ranging.
“Our work-centred culture is based on a fundamental conundrum: the economy depends on workers, while society depends on carers. Women, in particular, are torn. Only by resolving it will we create the conditions for a society in which adults fulfil their potential as professionals, partners and parents. Both the Labour Government and its supporters … should listen to real women ………………..
"Finally, we need to break the stranglehold that a small coterie of women who work fulltime and buy into the macho way of life, enjoy on our public life. They have, for years, misrepresented real women who reject the masculine value system for one that rates caring above a career, and interdependence above independence.
"Real women do not want to commit full time to a job. Real women do not see that as the route to self-realisation. They recognise that there is far more to life than a healthy profit or a great deal. Material woman, who apes material man, is over. The economy cannot sustain her, society feels betrayed by her. The future belongs to the real woman, who points to a lifestyle embracing feminine values. Let’s hope this Government – or the next – is brave enough to heed her call.”

Only six in ten children share a home with both parents (19 October No.9.39)
Only six in ten children live with both parents, the survey of youngsters has shown says the Daily Mail. The data, covering 12 to 15-year-olds, highlights how family structures have changed in the space of a generation. In 1990, three-quarters of children reported living with both their mother and father. Now, around a fifth live in single-parent households, most with their mother. Four per cent share their time equally between their mother and father's home, while 15 per cent live with a parent and step-parent. The other 1 per cent live in care or with foster parents.

Housework Pays Off Between the Sheets (26 October No.9.40)
Housework may seem like the ultimate romance-killer. But guess what? A new study shows that for husbands and wives alike, the more housework you do, the more often you are likely to have sex with your spouse reports the Wall Street Journal. Earlier studies have hinted at this connection for men; the sight of a husband mopping the floor or doing dishes sparks affection in the hearts of many wives. But the more-housework-equals-more-sex link for wives, documented in a study of 6,877 married couples published online recently in the Journal of Family Issues, is a surprise.

Raising Kids Makes Married People Happier: New Study (2 November No.9.41)
Having children improves married peoples' life satisfaction and the more they have, the happier they are says a report in Medical News Today. For unmarried individuals, raising children has little or no positive effect on their happiness. These findings (1) by Dr. Luis Angeles from the University of Glasgow in the UK have just been published online in Springer's Journal of Happiness Studies.

A promising strategy for strengthening families (16 November No.9.43)
A new paper summarising the progress made in the US with the Healthy Marriage Initiative concludes: “The experience and research strongly suggest that marriage and relationship education is an essential part of a comprehensive strategy to strengthen low-income families. Such a strategy has three components that, like a three-legged stool, stand or fall together:
  • Providing family economic resources and supports through income and in-kind support programs;
  • Creating human capital through education, training and employment services;
  • Helping individuals create and sustain strong family ties by offering them access to the information, attitudes and relationship skills they need to be effective parents and partners.

PAIRS Study: Relationship Skills Training Prevents Four Out of Five Divorces
(30 November No.9.45)
Four in five couples on the brink of divorce achieve lasting improvements from participation in 9 - 12 hours of relationship skills classes, according to a study by the non-profit PAIRS Foundation. Seth Eisenberg, President and CEO of the U.S.A. PAIRS Foundation, says the study has important implications for the public and policy makers. "We now know we can dramatically reduce the cycle of family breakdown and save marriages by encouraging couples to participate in brief relationship skills classes that teach emotional literacy, communication skills, and healthy conflict resolution."

Marriage good news for mental health, but separation and divorce have negative impacts (21 December No.9.48)
According to a major international study (also covered in the Daily Mail) across 15 countries and 34,493 people, getting married is positive for the mental health of both men and women, resulting in reduced risks of the likelihood of most mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse. By contrast, ending marriage through separation, divorce or being widowed, is associated with substantially increased risk of mental health disorders in both genders; particularly substance abuse for women and depression for men. The wide-ranging study led by clinical psychologist Dr Kate Scott from the University of Otago Wellington is based on the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surveys across developing and developed countries in the past decade.

Facebook fuelling divorce, research claims (21 December No.9.48)
Facebook is being cited in almost one in five of online divorce petitions, Divorce-Online have claimed reports the Telegraph and the Daily Mail. The social networking site, which connects old friends and allows users to make new ones online, is being blamed for an increasing number of marital breakdowns.


Faith and Spirituality

When2Pray Prayer Challenge (7 December No.9.46)
The When2Pray network, which works to encourage couples to pray together, has launched a seven week “Prayer Challenge” starting in early January – to learn more watch their video
Dave is offline   Reply With Quote