The Commission on Families and the Well-being of Children was established last year by the National Family and Parenting Institute and NCH, with funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
The commission says it is concerned about the substantial minorities who are facing poverty, poor mental health and inequalities in physical health and education. It is calling for a shift away from punitive to supportive approaches.
In determining the line between state intervention and family autonomy, the Commission was guided by the Human Rights Act and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Its recommendations include 'a menu of universal and targeted services', similar to service provision in Every Child Matters and Youth Matters. But the commission says there should be 'a legal entitlement' for universal services for all parents and families. Parenting support should be available for parents of children of all ages.
The wide-ranging recommendations include raising the age of criminal responsibility from ten to 12 and setting up an independent review body to define income standards that reflect children's right to an adequate standard of living.
It also calls for clearer regulations over children's well-being in the home, including the abolition of the defence of 'reasonable chastisement'
of a child and a Government review of parental responsibilities.
Professor Sir Michael Rutter, the child psychiatrist chairing the Commission, said, 'The state has a significant role to play in supporting family life in order to protect children and promote their well-being. It should adopt an approach of minimum enforceable intervention, but needs to provide extensive support so that families can carry out their caring responsibilities more effectively, particularly where they have difficulties in managing their children's behaviour.'
Families and the state - two-way support and responsibilities: an inquiry into the relationship between the state and the family in the upbringing of children, by the Commission on Families and the Well-being of Children, is published by the Policy Press. For details see www.policypress.org.uk.
