Nearly Half of British Parents Split Before Their Child Turns 15

Forty percent of British 10-year-olds do not live with both parents, according to data released by the Department of Work and Pensions on October 31.

Eighty percent of children are born to parents living together. By the time they turn 15, only 55 percent of children live with both parents, according to data from 2009 to 2010.

The number of children in Britain being brought up by unmarried couples has doubled since 1996, according to another set of figures released by the Office of National Statistics on November 1. The number of opposite-sex cohabiting couples rose from 1.5 million to 2.9 million. The number of children living with these couples rose from 900,000 to 1.8 million. Cohabitation is now the fastest-growing family type in Britain, while the number of married couples bringing up children has fallen by 12 percent.

In 1996, roughly three out of four children were brought up by married parents. Now, it is three out of five. Marriage is still the dominant family structure: 12.2 million out of Britain’s 18.2 million families consisted of married couples.

The managing director of think tank Center for Social Justice (csj), Christian Guy, said, “These figures revealing growing levels of family instability and breakdown, which should raise alarm.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who founded the csj, announced plans to measure the success of social policy by how it helps families, education and employment. Family, he said is “the most important building block in a child’s life.”

“When families are strong and stable, so are children—showing higher levels of well being and more positive outcomes,” he said. “But when things go wrong—either through family breakdown or a damaged parental relationship—the impact on a child’s later life can be devastating.”

But one word was completely absent from Smith’s speech: “marriage.” Smith has been an outspoken supporter of marriage. But in a speech about the importance of strong and stable families, he didn’t mention it once. Britain’s politically correct establishment raises an outcry every time someone in government like Smith tries to stand up for marriage.

The British government is beginning to wake up to the fact that family problems are at the heart of its social problems. But Britain still doesn’t know how to fix its families. Until people are willing to talk about marriage, and the different roles of a husband and wife, these problems will continue. A traditional, Bible-based family is the only way to fix Britain’s social problems.