Rajen Prasad: Families Commission is unconcerned with morality

In an article on this page last Friday Patricia Morgan provocatively stated that the family was in a worse state in New Zealand than anywhere else. She then called for policy changes to strengthen the family unit based on marriage.

She boldly asserted that war was declared on the standard family in the 1970s by the left and right, sexual liberators and feminists. But the family still exists today as the foundation of our society.

Far from being under threat, most families are successfully adapting family life in a changing world, as they have for generations.

They continue to care for family members while at the same time contributing to their communities. For most of us our families are still the hub of our lives.

Morgan's interpretation of the data on change in families leads her to a response that might be referred to as moral panic. She seeks a radical reversal of many family and economic policies. Here she is misguided.

Trends show that more couples are choosing to live together, especially in the early stages of their relationship, marry later and have fewer children.

On average women are in their 30s when they have their first baby. Perhaps change is an inevitable constant in the human condition. Even so, marriage is still the most popular form of relationship.

Morgan argues that public policies over the past 30 years have not provided incentives for people to get married and this has led to the decline of the family. She says policy has determined changes in family structures for the worse.

In fact it is the other way around. Changes driven by wider social factors such as economics, technology and education have driven policy. This is not new. Social change has been happening for generations and across governments of all political hues.

The key issue for governments is to support all families to care for family members. It is family functioning that matters.

Rather than lament the direction of change, the Families Commission seeks to understand it.

The commission appreciates the strength of the family with two parents who have an abiding commitment to each other and their children. However, it advocates on behalf of all families.

Surely it is more productive to concentrate less on what a family is and more on what it does. How do families best love, protect and nurture each other? What are the factors that ensure the wellbeing of families? What makes a family successful? How could they become more resilient?

These are questions the Families Commission will be looking at over the coming months. We will be getting face to face with community organisations and families to hear their views about the issues they are grappling with today.

We will be giving them a voice. We will listen to their stories to find out about their aspirations and realities.

The research will shed light on the distribution of responsibilities in the diversity of family forms.

It will allow us to identify the constraints faced by different family structures and the adjustments and trade-offs families make to provide the security in which each family member can flourish.

It is our job to listen to and to advocate for families. From the evidence presented by families themselves, and research knowledge, we will promote policy change and encourage the development of new policy that provides a better deal for families.

It is not our role to lay down moral principles.

The commission supports strong families and will do what it takes to ensure their needs are addressed.

* Rajen Prasad is chief commissioner of the Families Commission