Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Welfare state not living up to expectations

In the budget run-up Every Child Counts is warning the government they must invest in children.

“As we head into Budget 2012, it is time for the government to publicly acknowledge the significant return on effective investment in children and assure the public that their policies will improve life for our most vulnerable children,” says Jenny Prince, Every Child Counts Steering Group member and CE of Plunket.
At the same time, a new study from the US  casts doubt on whether the welfare state can make up for a lack of two parent families. The study compares US and UK cohorts.

“WASHINGTON, DC, May 16, 2012 — Children in the United States and Great Britain share a number of common risk factors that increase the likelihood that they will have behavioral problems—and Britain’s broader social welfare programs don’t appear to mitigate those risks, according to a new study in the June issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior (JHSB)....

"We wanted to see whether the role of parents was equally important in both societies because the argument has been made that more developed welfare states—such as Great Britain—can make the role of parents less important, by providing additional supports that can help compensate for situations where households have more limited resources. This study tells us that parents are important in households, regardless of the strength of the welfare state.”
The UK Daily Mail has coverage here. They headlined coverage of the study from the Journal of Health and social Behaviour with:

Research found children from broken homes did worse regardless of how much state support is given
(Hat-tip Bob McCoskrie)

8 comments:

Andrei said...

Well that is from the department of well duh.

Why do you think marriage as an institution came about in the forst place?

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Do you always have to be so abrasive? I am merely documenting the change in mainstream thinking. If you aren't interested, don't bother reading.

Andrei said...

If I'm abrasive, perhaps it is because the values that I hold dear and are reflected in the investment I put into my children are under siege by a mindless rabble who think only of their own personal gratification.

And when it comes down to it it will be my children who will wear the consequences of all this radical social experimentation.

This gay marriage nonsense is a further undermining of the fundamental institution that exists to minimize the problems you so often document.

Andrei said...

You know Lindsay there is an old adage
if you want an economic activity to increase subsidize it and if you want an economic activity to decrease tax it
Well the welfare State has the perverse outcome of subsidizing unmarried parenthood while penalizing the married.

And whether you're aware of it or not the chickens are almost certainly about to come home to roost - big time.

No Government anywhere in the world has a clue as to what to do to fix it - so it's band aids and business as usual.

Lucia Maria said...

This is good news. When people keep doing the same thing and it doesn't work (and even gets worse), they'll eventually start really thinking about why.

The human element of two parents is something that a monolithic state can never duplicate, no matter how much money it hands out.

JC said...

Just for you, Andre:

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
One frosty Sunday morn.


The congregation stood about,
Coat-collars to the ears,
And talked of stock, and crops, and drought,
As it had done for years.


"It's looking crook," said Daniel Croke;
"Bedad, it's cruke, me lad,
For never since the banks went broke
Has seasons been so bad."


"It's dry, all right," said young O'Neil,
With which astute remark
He squatted down upon his heel
And chewed a piece of bark.


And so around the chorus ran
"It's keepin' dry, no doubt."
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."


"The crops are done; ye'll have your work
To save one bag of grain;
From here way out to Back-o'-Bourke
They're singin' out for rain.


"They're singin' out for rain," he said,
"And all the tanks are dry."
The congregation scratched its head,
And gazed around the sky.


"There won't be grass, in any case,
Enough to feed an ass;
There's not a blade on Casey's place
As I came down to Mass."


"If rain don't come this month," said Dan,
And cleared his throat to speak -
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If rain don't come this week."


A heavy silence seemed to steal
On all at this remark;
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed a piece of bark.


"We want an inch of rain, we do,"
O'Neil observed at last;
But Croke "maintained" we wanted two
To put the danger past.


"If we don't get three inches, man,
Or four to break this drought,
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."


In God's good time down came the rain;
And all the afternoon
On iron roof and window-pane
It drummed a homely tune.


And through the night it pattered still,
And lightsome, gladsome elves
On dripping spout and window-sill
Kept talking to themselves.


It pelted, pelted all day long,
A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song
Way out to Back-o'-Bourke.


And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop;
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If this rain doesn't stop."


And stop it did, in God's good time;
And spring came in to fold
A mantle o'er the hills sublime
Of green and pink and gold.


And days went by on dancing feet,
With harvest-hopes immense,
And laughing eyes beheld the wheat
Nid-nodding o'er the fence.


And, oh, the smiles on every face,
As happy lad and lass
Through grass knee-deep on Casey's place
Went riding down to Mass.


While round the church in clothes genteel
Discoursed the men of mark,
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed his piece of bark.


"There'll be bush-fires for sure, me man,
There will, without a doubt;
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."

Anonymous said...

I think you have Andre confused with Jim Hansen, JC.


onelaw4all

Anonymous said...

the values that I hold dear and are reflected in the investment I put into my children are under siege by a mindless rabble who think only of their own personal gratification

More to the point the investment I put into my children is completely undermind by the investment I have to put into bludgders and their kids whether for ACC, WFF, EQC, DPB, their schools, their hospitals, their houses, their food - all for people who don't love their kids or they would have arranged to provide for their own kids themselves