Debt 'drives family breakdown'

19/01/2010

Debt is a "driver of family breakdown" which in turn leads to accumulation of debt for the children involved, a report has revealed.

The Green Paper on the Family, published yesterday (January 18th), explains the negative impact which "personal indebtedness" can have on family structure.

Noting the close relation between financial problems and family problems, the report said: "Both debt and poverty are drivers of family breakdown, and family breakdown in turn acts as a driver for poverty".

The green paper was issued as a "blueprint for supporting and strengthening families" with the belief that strong family units will improve the "lives and outcomes of [individual] children and adults in Britain" while improving society as a whole.

According to a report entitled Breakdown Britain published in 2006, a child not brought up in a two-parent family is 40 per cent more likely to have serious debt problems and 35 per cent more likely to experience unemployment or become dependent on welfare. ADNFCR-1819-ID-19566101-ADNFCR