News analysis Why Britain is bottom of the class in raising children

22 Feb 07
The UK, it seems, is not a happy place to be a child.

23 February 2007

The UK, it seems, is not a happy place to be a child. The economy might be healthy but, according to a Unicef report, British children are more likely to be trapped in poverty, have low aspirations, endure fractured relationships with their parents and be at risk of alcohol and drug abuse than their peers in other prosperous nations.

This gloomy picture appeared to be confirmed last week elsewhere in the news. There were reports of children diagnosed with alcohol-related cirrhosis, rising infant mortality rates among the poorest families and a stream of teenage gun-crime victims, all of which raised questions of how this depressing trend could be reversed.

Unicef's sobering report, published on February 14, provided the first comprehensive assessment of the wellbeing of children and young people across 21 of the world's leading economies.

Researchers at the organisation's Innocenti's research centre in Florence evaluated six dimensions of a child's life experience, including material wealth, education, family relationships and their sense of their own wellbeing.

The UK managed no better than a twelfth placing in any of the dimensions and came bottom in two: family and peer relationships, and behaviours and risks.

Among the more startling findings was the revelation that 16.2% of British children live below the poverty line; 35.8% report they have been bullied in the past month; and 35.3% of 15-year-olds aspire to low-skilled work.

Significantly, Unicef's report found no strong or consistent relationship between per capita gross domestic product and child wellbeing.

Innocenti director Marta Santos Pais pointed out that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child urges countries to invest in its children to the 'maximum extent of available resources'.

'A country cannot be said to be doing the best it can for its children if other countries at a similar stage of economic development are doing much better – and that's what the league tables are designed to show,' she said.

British children's advocates declared themselves disappointed, if not surprised, to see the UK at the bottom of the league table, trailing countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic.

Given that the UK came fourth from the bottom on the material wellbeing indicator, minds and debate have been focused once again on the government's ambitious target to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020.

While the goal is universally endorsed, child poverty campaigners are frustrated at the slow progress being made.

Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, urged the government to go further, faster, and renewed her call for £4bn of extra annual investment to make hitting the target a reality.

'We need a national commitment, shared by the public and politicians alike, to put the improvement of our children's quality of life and an end to child poverty at the top of the British political agenda,' she said.

While resources are undoubtedly important, some campaigners and children's advocates are saying they are not the sole answer to the problems highlighted by Unicef.

Elaine Peace, UK director of children's services at the children's charity NCH, agreed the report provides a timely reminder about the importance of the child poverty target.

She added: 'It's important that this and successive governments see through their commitment to the Every Child Matters agenda and translate that not only in terms of resources, but also in terms of their attitudes to children and young people.'

The UK is not a child-friendly society, she said. The fact that the report shows no obvious relationship between national wealth and children's wellbeing suggests the problem is not just resource-related.

'Often the media has a part to play. We need to stop portraying young people with such negative stereotypes, which actually fuels fear and suspicion. We need to listen to them more and celebrate the more positive things they do,' she told Public Finance.

Children's commissioner Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green echoed this view, maintaining that policies and resources alone were not the answer.

Aynsley-Green said Unicef had called attention to a 'crisis' at the heart of British society. 'We must not continue to ignore the impact of our attitudes towards children and young people,' he said.

'It is time to stop demonising children and young people for what goes wrong and start supporting them to make positive choices; to bring an end to the confusing messages we give to young people about their role, responsibility and position in society and ensure that every child feels valued and has their rights respected.'

According to Peace, connecting with young people is an area where the voluntary sector can play a part. 'What charities are good at is reaching out and engaging with those hard-to-reach groups that are more likely to be socially excluded. We can play [a crucial role] in supporting the public sector in tackling these issues,' she said.

Greater input from the voluntary sector is being encouraged by current policy, but some evidence emerged last week to suggest that the public sector can also do it for itself.

One of the five intended outcomes of the Every Child Matters strategy is 'making a positive contribution', which places an emphasis on children becoming involved in their local communities and shaping services.

A short report from Ofsted, published on the same day as the Unicef report, suggested that council-run youth services are performing well in this area: a 'large minority' of services had excelled in involving and engaging with young people, the watchdog said. 'Youth services have engaged young people through youth councils, forums and community action. They enjoyed participating and developed political literacy skills, as well as the more practical and essential skills of communication,' inspectors wrote.

It might be small comfort in the light of such a pessimistic picture of children's wellbeing, but evidence nonetheless that the public sector is grappling with the problem and with a measure of success.

PFfeb2007

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