Difficulties of large families noted

Press, 2 December 1978, Page 20

Difficulties of large families noted

j Greater recognition | needed to be given to the ■ difficulties facing larger ; families, said Dr J. L. j Robson, chairman of the j Social Development Council, in Wellington.

Dr Robson, who is also director of the Institute of Criminology at Victoria University, Wellington, was commenting on one of two council papers on families ! in special circumstances. ; The papers examine the | situation of larger families and the difficulties faced by I families where at least one , of the children is of a pre- ! vious union.

The papers are the third and fourth in a series of five being published by the Social Development Council on “Families in Special Circumstances.”

They have been prepared to assist the Government in the establishment of an integrated family policy. “The greater the number of children, the further the family’s resources have to be stretched, a price parents have to pay for having large families,” Dr

Robson said on the paper on the larger family.

He said there was a risk of big families being isolated within the mainstream of society merely because they had a larger than usual number of children.

Consequences for children of any form of isolation or deprivation could not be ignored, he said.

The paper on larger families looks at their nature and incidence, attitudes, the children’s social, intellectual, educational, and physical development as well as major influences on children from these families.

Finance, child care, accommodation, and forms of community support are dealt with.

The paper concluded that fewer children were being born in New Zealand and fewer adults were choosing to have families. “Most New Zealand families will be small in the future, but our society

will always have some large families, especially as many people regard them as ideal,” it says. “At present large families are faced with i many difficulties, some of j which are the problems of | small families developed to i a greater degree, and all ■ of which are made worse by the lack of specific provision for large families in our society.” Commenting on the coun- ' cil’s paper on families with ! step-parents, Dr Robson said that remarriage by j parents with children was now common. “Remarriage can pose : problems for both parents i and children. Counselling and support should be i, available to people con- ■ i sidering remarriage as it is j ( to people dissolving their [ i marriage,” he said. The paper concluded that ;' “stepfamilies” were making j 1 up an increasing proper- 1 tion of all families in ■ society. It said that more 1 must be found out about 1 them and better provisions made. s j