Blame bad parents for Britain’s ills, says Sir Michael Wilshaw...
 

Families where parents no longer “take responsibility” for teaching their children “right and wrong” are at the root of Britain’s biggest problems, the man overseeing the education of millions of pupils has claimed



In outspoken remarks about the “social breakdown” of Britain, Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools and social care, attacked “hollowed out and fragmented families” where parents suffer a “poverty of accountability”.


Sir Michael made the comments as Ofsted published a national report on the state of social care, which showed that almost six out of 10 councils are failing to do enough to protect vulnerable children and revealed that 700,000 youngsters are growing up in homes blighted by drug or alcohol addiction


But he said child abuse and neglect was not the fault of local authorities alone. Such issues were the product of a “social breakdown”, he added.


Sir Michael warned that the problems exposed in child abuse scandals were being deepened by an apparent national obsession with “pussyfooting around” and “making excuses” for bad parents. The head of Ofsted claimed that town planners must also take their share of the blame for the problems he highlighted. He said that by filling areas with betting shops and fast food outlets, they “obviously do not help to support troubled families and troubled children”.

A series of cases have shown how opportunities were missed to save the lives of children such as Baby P and Daniel Pelka, who was tortured and starved to death by his mother and stepfather.

Sir Michael claimed that, even in cases where children had died, social services chiefs should not be sacked necessarily because the resulting turmoil was making matters worse. The report portrayed a child protection system that is deeply troubled, with one in seven councils judged “unacceptably poor” – a figure that has grown in the past year – and only four out of 10 meeting the grade of “good” or higher in inspections.

It showed that a third of local authorities had lost their head of children’s services in the past year and a “climate of turbulence” was making it harder to address problems.

Sir Michael warned that the social work profession was haemorrhaging expertise, with morale near an all-time low and a looming “demographic time bomb” as a large number of staff near retirement. He also said “incompetent and ineffective” chiefs should be driven out, adding that many child safeguarding boards that monitor them were “not worth the name”.

But he claimed the heart of problems such as child abuse ran deeper than social services departments.

“This is also about society taking a view about where it stands on the social issues which contribute to family dysfunction and risk to children,” he said.

“Abuse and neglect do not happen randomly, they are the product of social breakdown.” He cited figures that showed 100,000 children were being raised by people addicted to hard drugs.

But Sir Michael said many children were “alienated” from their natural father and that this lay at the root of the wider problems.

“Some people will tell you that social breakdown is the result of material poverty. It’s more than this,” he added.

“These children lack more than money: they lack parents who take responsibility for seeing them raised well. It is this poverty of accountability which costs them.

“These children suffer because they are not given clear rules or boundaries, have few secure or safe attachments at home, and little understanding of the difference between right and wrong behaviour.

“If we believe that the family is the great educator – and I certainly do believe that – and the community the great support system, then we as a society should worry deeply about the hollowing out and fragmentation of both.”

He continued: “Children [are] abused because their biological parents were long ago alienated from each other and the new man in the house – often the latest in a succession of men – is violent and resentful.”

Sir Michael also called on the Government to build in measures to improve the communities in which social problems grow. “What are town planners doing when they build homes and housing estates?” he asked. “What do councils do to ensure that they are pleasant places to live?” But he warned against prescribing solutions to councils’ problems based on “short-term reaction by tragedy”.

Where those in leadership positions “have capacity and potential, this must be recognised and nurtured”.

He added: “The combination of unstable communities and political and managerial instability in our social care services is a dangerous mix.”

Christian Guy, the director of the Centre for Social Justice, the think tank founded by Iain Duncan Smith, said: “He [Sir Michael] is absolutely right, if we continue to fail to recognise the importance of stable families we will continue to use the state just to pick up the pieces.

“The political community has overlooked the importance of that stability – we’ve had family policies, gimmicks and giveaways but nobody has really got to grips with stability as the root of many of these problems.”


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...l-Wilshaw.html

kids having kids.

Kind of agree.

Nothing new there then, we have known this for years.
Now it is time to do something about it, and find a solution.

Very bizarre mix of sociological perspectives there...
Not many solutions offered are there?

Totally agree with him ,bad parents blame EVERYONE else for their brats turning into thugs, the buck stops at home ,you cannot drag a child up,not learn them right from wrong and expect them to be decent adults

It's pretty simple what the solution is really, teach your kids right from wrong. If they still turn into little b*stards then at least you tried just ship em off to active service. :joker:

Most of the worlds' problems are down to bad parenting, let's face it. And I'm not just talking about the muggers and kids in gangs. Kids of rich, cold, uncaring parents (who palm them off on nannies / boarding schools) are just as bad. Kids are raised in an uncaring, unsympathetic, authoritarian way by parents from all "classes" and in turn become the uncaring, unsympathetic, authoritarian people at the heads of our schools, services, businesses, multinationals... countries...

And in turn those systems of power create unhappy, selfish people to begin the cycle all over again.

I'm convinced somehow, somewhere, it all began with some poor little bugger who didn't get enough cuddles.

yep bad parenting plus the evil march of perverted feminism has been allowed to destroy and devalue fatherhood. Its revolting and an insult to the tens of millions of magnificent fathers the world over who make the world a far far far better place

I think it's totally true.

The truth vs Tibbs feminists.

I DO NOT want to miss this, I think I'll grab a chair.

What is?.. the new right mantra of 'lone mothers are the root of all evil'?...
Bollocks!
Sorry but that's the biggest load of tosh, the systematic dismantlement of industry, jobs and infrastructure in the UK has done for huge areas, the country has swollen considerably over the last 10yrs which has stretched local authorities to breaking point in regard to homes and schools.
Open your eyes to what has been happening in this country for the last 30yrs. Put your copy of the Mail down and educate yourselves to the REAL problems in society instead of looking for scapegoats.
Pitching society against one another is a form of social control.

Who are these feminists?...
I'm a humanist, if you are being a twonk I'll tell you whether you're a man or a woman.
I can't believe how anyone can swallow this rubbish.. It boggles the mind, seriously we have no individuality anymore it seems.
My gast has never been more flabbered!

You personally may be a 'humanist' but there are feminists on this forum. I have had several run ins with a few already though none of them particularly hostile, maybe because I believe women are the superior gender idk

No gender is superior, some just need to take the pole out and realise that you can't demonise a whole gender based on personal experience, or if this article is to be believed the downfall of society....

It's human nature sometimes to demonise a certain gender, race, religion if they have suffered at the hands of anyone from that demographic.

I know of women who have been beaten by men in several relationships and because of that they have a sour view of men. Now I would never lift a finger to a woman but I totally understood their feelings on the matter. Even myself when I got cheated on in two relationships in a row, I believed that women were sly and untrustworthy but even though I know that is far from the truth I genuinely believed that at the time.

That's irrational though...Just as this article is.
Yes at one time I was hurt by a man, but I dealt with the pain and emotional distress, I didn't transfer it to everything with a penis.
And I didn't encourage others to use their fear and distrust to malign a cross section of society either.

yes and that's exactly what radical feminism did

that's a profoundly discriminatory point of view

That's good, sadly the radical feminists wouldn't concur. they hate men period. the great leader of the radical feminists , germaine greer said all fathers were perverts on the supposedly top political show question time, she also said they were taught to be deviant by kissing their daddy goodnight....this country is so sad, so cynical so hateful and so utterly subdued and conformed by radical feminism that no one dared whispered a word....I heard Michael portillo once say there is no proof that fatherhood is beneficial...and again no one dared utter a word. Its beyond disgusting. there is a profound level of hate and discrimination against men in this country in every single minor facet of everything

Frankly if I didn't have so many ties here Id leave. I fully expect to have my life ended prematurely one die being neglected by a man hating nurse

http://imageshack.us/a/img692/6344/78m5.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UPel3e1ax8...00/feet+up.jpg

ignore the truth at your peril

Feminism closed coal mines, steelworks, car/ train/plane manufacture, and clothing industry?
Privatised and outsourced anything and everything?

did I say that? Nope.

The country isn't as sad and cynical as you yet thank god, Yes children need fathers nobody is disputing that why is it needed to champion either gender?
This article does sit well with you as it plays to your rather one sided view, it does not make it the truth though... just spin.