AUSTRALIAN VIEW

Society ignores the plight of children at its peril

Israel's former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, accepting his Nobel Peace Prize, said that a child is born undemocratic: he cannot choose his father, mother, sex, colour or nationality. His fate is given to others to resolve.

In Australia today that fate is hostage to modernity's paradox. In spite of economic prosperity, not all children are lifted by the rising tide. Indeed, while advantaged children are doing better than ever, the disadvantaged are going backwards.

Society's ills are focused upon its children. Increasing proportions of children and youth in Australia are subject to diseases such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, intellectual disabilities, depression, suicide and eating disorders, with dramatic increases in substance abuse, aggressive juvenile crime, child abuse and neglect.

Current policies and funding are not working. Professionals from pediatricians to social workers report that the problems are more complex and more resistant. Such problems are treated in silos: health for health problems, schools for education problems. Yet the causes are systemic and new whole-of-government strategies are needed.

This is the theme of one of the most important books of the year, Children of the Lucky Country: How Australian society has turned its back on children and why children matter. The book seeks to revolutionise the policy and politics of children's issues. It exposes the extent of the crisis and the difficulty of winning public support for the solution.

It is written by three professional women: Fiona Stanley, 2003 Australian of the Year, professor of child health at the University of Western Australia and executive director of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth; Sue Richardson, professor of labour economics at Flinders University and president of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia; and Margot Prior, professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne.

It is a wake-up call about misplaced national priorities. In recent years, Australia has had a vital debate about the ageing of the population, yet there is no parallel commitment to the crisis facing children and youth.

"The future economic prosperity of our nation depends upon us focusing more on the developmental health and wellbeing of children," the authors argue.

"We simply cannot afford to ignore the issues we have raised if we want to succeed in a world where what is needed are competent, intelligent and socially capable people."

Yet Australian policy has failed. Obesity and diabetes are on the rise. Asthma rates have lifted from 10 per cent to 30 per cent over three decades. Childhood disabilities are increasing. Suicide rates for males aged 15 to 24 have risen fourfold since the 1960s. From 1999 to 2003, the number of child abuse cases nearly doubled. Surveys show that 15 per cent of teenagers have high levels of psychological problems and less than half will get any professional help. Victorian surveys report that among 16 and 17-year-old boys and girls who drink, 41 per cent do so at hazardous levels, with girls showing higher rates of hazardous drinking than boys. "What can you do as an individual to make our society better for children?" the authors ask.

They argue that the problems stem from profound social changes that mock any piecemeal answers. The authors identify five such changes. First, population ageing with fewer children per family and a likely shift in political power to the aged with the risk that services, funds and attention will be devoted more to society's past than to its future.

Second, the market-based economy and globalisation dictate that in a harsher, tougher workplace, parents are spending more time on their job and less time on their families: a trend that needs to be reversed.

Third, the entry of women into the work force is an epic event to which neither government nor public policy has adapted to deliver best care for children.

Fourth, a weakening of the family unit has a direct impact on children, with one in three marriages likely to end in divorce and with 23 per cent of families now headed by a single parent. The authors argue for a tolerance of family types and the view that responsibility for children must rest with family as well as community.

Finally, the consuming technologies of mobile phones, the internet, the bedroom television and the computer are seen as empowering as well as debilitating. They risk personality disorder and glorify violence.

The authors want a cultural change in public policy, with children and their needs enshrined at its centre. This involves "a national discussion about parenting" and how parents can be better equipped for their tasks. They argue that society has a collective interest in people having children, and avoiding the damage that occurs if children grow into dysfunctional adults.

The authors call on politicians, public servants and media champions to rally to the children's cause. Their appeal is heartfelt, yet it highlights the problem. There is no special lobby group for children backed by money and voting power. Children may be our future, yet their cause lacks political clout.

This book has a long list of recommendations, most of which strike at established interests in the cause of a new and often contentious conception of the public interest. The authors want the role of parents to be honoured, not penalised, in workplace arrangements. This means a retreat from long hours, the embrace of paid maternity and paternity leave, full childcare availability, flexible hours and greater job security. In education, they want a better-funded public school system and equality of access to first-class, publicly funded schools.

They want the full cost of parenthood, estimated at 20 per cent of family income to raise one child, to be recognised; new mechanisms to review all legislation for its impact on children; and universally available child healthcare. Above all, they want children's programs to incorporate the full social dimension of child development.

The book's overarching philosophy is that prevention is better than cure. Unless Australia reduces the risks to its young people, it confronts an escalating battle over decades, demanding large amounts of public funds, to manage the health, welfare and alienation costs arising from the problems of children and youth.

Paul Kelly
November 30, 2005

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17408338%255E12250,00.html