THE FAMILY GREEN PAPER: The Main Points: State takes a stake in relationships

"MARRIAGE IS the best way for two adults to raise their children", says the Government's first family policy paper, emphasising the traditional family unit remained at the centre of its plans.

While insisting that it was not "lecturing" people on how to live their lives, it said that looking after the needs of children was its first priority and "strong and stable" families provided the best basis for this.

Yesterday's Green Paper lists five main areas where the Government wants to see more action: providing advice and support to families, strengthening marriage, tackling child poverty, balancing work and home commitments and taking on the most serious family problems such as domestic violence, truancy and teenage pregnancies.

To reinforce the institution of marriage, the Government plans to end "quickie" weddings - when couples marrying in a register office give only 24 hours' notice. Both partners should also attend the register office to give notice of the marriage.

Couples would be given a "statement of rights and responsibilities" before marrying so that there would be a "clear statement of what their new status means" and recognition that "marriage is a serious business". Pre-nuptial written agreements about distribution of money and property will also be made legally binding.

Ministers also want to support "adult relationships" by introducing more flexible civil wedding ceremonies and creating a new role for registrars, who would give pre-nuptial counselling as well as providing marriage preparation packs. Registrars could also have an expanded role conducting baby naming ceremonies as a non-religious alternative to christenings.

The new National Family and Parenting Institute will give advice on bringing up children as well as setting up a national parent telephone help-line to answer parents' queries, and refer them to specialist advice as necessary.

Health visitors will also get a larger role looking after families as a whole and looking out for danger signs of relationship problems as well as the immediate welfare of babies. They may also make visits not only just after birth but through the early and pre-school years as well. Grandparents will be encouraged to take an active role in helping to raise children, particularly through education or foster care. Local authorities will be urged to consider the needs of the wider family when allocating housing, to help grandparents stay close to their relatives so that they can more easily offer practical support such as childcare.

With the numbers of divorces one of the highest in the European Union, the Government is also proposing to beef up the advice services available to couples near to breaking-up, and encourage more mediation where divorce seems inevitable. One idea is to make couples attend meetings at least three months before divorce and separation proceedings start, concentrating on whether the marriage really is over and the impact the divorce would have on children.

When marriages cannot be saved, the Government should ensure that the divorce process does not make the situation worse for the family as a whole. The new Family Law Act will no longer mean that couples have to make allegations of fault and the Government is also considering making allocation of property after divorce simpler. Again the primary aim would be to look after the needs of any children.

To help balance work and home, family friendly employment practices will be encouraged. This was one area where the Green Paper said the Government was "leading by example". Better financial support for poor families was under way with the reform of the tax and benefit systems including uprating of child benefit and introduction of the Working Families' Tax Credit. The Government said that taking all the March 1998 budget measures together, the 20 per cent of poorest households with children would gain an extra pounds 500 a year. When it comes to the most serious worries families face - such as domestic violence, teenage pregnancy or truancy - publicity campaigns are planned to raise awareness of these problems. Parents may also face "parenting orders" if their child is offending - which could take the form of a parent ensuring a child is home at certain hours or escorted to and from school. More education on the facts of life will be given to try to bring down teenage pregnancies. Boys will also be encouraged to take more responsibility for their actions.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Review, page 4

Leading article,

Review, page 3