Parents, problems and policy
| Date | 12 March 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/jcs.2010.0117 |
| Pages | 56-60 |
| Published date | 12 March 2010 |
| Author | Roy Parker |
Journal of Children’s Ser vices • V olume 5 Issue 1 • March 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd
56
10.5042/jcs.2010.0117
Editors’ Preamble
Professor Peter Townsend, who died on 7 June 2009, offered a rare combination of serious
academic scholarship, campaigning for justice and generous support for students and young
researchers. His influence over 50 years was enormous, to the extent that even today almost
every discussion of poverty, welfare and rights acknowledges his work. He worked tirelessly
to encourage governments to increase the financial support given to families. He founded
the Child Poverty Action Group in 1965 and must take much of the credit for getting the new
1997 Labour Government to agree to eliminate child poverty in Britain as quickly as possible.
In recognition of his vast contribution to the field, we are pleased to publish this article, which
is adapted from an address given at the Peter Townsend Memorial Conference, Conway Hall,
London, 20 November, 2009 on the theme of Children and Social Policy.
Abstract
Much is heard about children and families but less about the policy implications of the
parenting task in today’s society. I argue that the demands placed upon parents have
increased but that this has yet to be reflected in broader-based policies.
Key words
parents; parenting; policy
However, before I embark on that it is appropriate
to note that 20 November, the date of the
Peter Townsend Memorial Conference, was the
twentieth anniversary of the adoption by the
United Nations of the Convention on the Rights of
The Convention covers some 40 rights, many
of which require, for their realisation, that there
be a protective and benevolent context within
which children can live and develop. That context
comprises many elements, but the most important
is the one created by parents. What, therefore,
has been, or should be, the role of social policy in
helping them to provide the kind of context that
promotes the well-being of their children? Quite
obviously being poor makes the task harder, but I
am going to take that for granted in what follows.
I first encountered Peter Townsend in Bethnal
Green in 1956 when he gave a talk on the research
that he was conducting about the family life of
old people (later published as Townsend, 1975a).
I was much impressed by what he had to say,
most notably because he placed the lives of these
elderly people in a ‘context’ that broadened
the way in which the various issues confronting
them were conceptualised and explained. Indeed,
this approach became a hallmark of his work.
In 1973, for example, in a lecture on sociology
and social policy, he warned against relying upon
administrative categories and concepts in our
approach to the study of social policy (reprinted
in Townsend, 1975b). It is, therefore, Peter’s
approach that I am taking in what I have to
say on the theme of children and social policy.
Parents, problems and policy*
Roy Parker
University of Bristol, UK
* The article will also be published later in a book, together with all other contributions from the day. We gratefully acknowledge the permission of the
conference organiser, Professor David Gordon, to publish this article here.
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