Comments on: [Guest Post] Troubled Families: A Moral Maze, or The Seven Traits of Highly Unsuccessful People

By: Howard Hardiman

Howard Hardiman — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 05:38:55 +0000

Hi, Cluisanna,

You’re right, it’s teenage conception (so being pregnant or having an abortion) that’s listed as being considered problematic. Luckily, the abstainence lobby hasn’t taken off in the UK.

As I said in the article, teenagers being pregnant or ending a pregnancy shouldn’t be considered in itself an indicator of trouble, but if there are problems with criminality or missing school (presumably the teenage parents, too!) then it’s fair to say there’s a clearer need to engage with the family, even if it’s to have a serious talk about safer sex!

Howard

By: Cluisanna

Cluisanna — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 21:45:50 +0000

Wait, using contraception under 18 is a long-term health problem? Seriously??? This is from the UK, right? I don’t know about you, but in Germany most people have sex at around 15 or sixteen, and of course they are using contraception (it’s taught in schools). Isn’t it actually the other way around, that people who *don’t* use contraception so early tend to form “troubled” families? (And why the hell health problem?)

By: E B Snare

E B Snare — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:53:37 +0000

Great post, informative and tackled the entire subject with an understanding of the nuances of this complex subject. It feels as though, more and more, current policy is moving towards a (heteronormative) view that ‘wife+husband+children+home = good’ and anything else is ultimately, a crime. Hopefully articles that tear this down (like this one) will help people fight against that view.

E B Snare

By: Stephen B

Stephen B — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:05:56 +0000

That first list of criteria (which Eric Pickles said the families should be ‘stigmatised more’ for, because it’s their fault) translates as:

Being Poor, Being Unemployed, Bad Housing, Not educated, Suffering from mental illness, Having any long-term illness, and Being Poor.

(If you ARE working but in bad housing, or you are long-term physically or mentally ill, you are described as ‘lazy’.)

I didn’t know about the second more subtle considerations list, that’s really interesting, because it wasn’t the families who allow crime or truancy, or anti-social behaviour, that Pickles singled out for stigmatising. He *literally* defined problem families on public record as “The Poor” and “The Sick”. Unbelievable.

Thank you so much for this post, it’s good to know that the initial intentions were at least more nuanced, and it’s people at Pickles’ level who turned it into such a disgusting mess!