It's Time to Focus on Rebuilding a Marriage Culture

The Kiwi Party

"With our teenage birthrate the fifth highest in the developed world, and new data suggesting that more than half of all solo parents on the Domestic Purposes Benefit (DPB) first became beneficiaries as teenagers, it's time New Zealand begins focusing on rebuilding a marriage culture", says deputy leader of the Kiwi Party Simonne Dyer. "And alongside these statistics", continued Dyer, "are others that show a continuous rise in the number of our teenagers having abortions."

"We've got enough statistical evidence showing that children of teenage mothers often do worse than other children on educational, economic and health measures. Research also shows that children in one parent families, or families with a non-birth parent, suffer an increased rate of abuse, are more likely to have difficulty in school, have an increased rate of substance abuse, and live in greater poverty than children of married couples.

"The current review of our welfare state led by economist Paula Rebstock is long overdue but unless this is accompanied by a recognition of the benefits that flow into society from stable families, the only achievement will be ongoing hardship among our beneficiaries with no real change. Investment in pre-marriage, marriage and parenting courses through faith based, charity, iwi and third sector organisations is a vital first step in rebuilding a positive marriage culture.

"It will take a generation to bring about societal change in our family structures" said Dyer, "but unless we have the courage to speak out now about these issues we will see increasing family dysfunction and the consequent heavy toll on our communities".

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