Very interesting, and troubling, article by Melanie Reid on the culture behind the current child abduction case in Dewsbury. It rings bells after a meeting this morning where we discussed the key issues in a difficult local area. The top 5 issues, identified by someone who works full time with people in the area, was:
- breakdown of the family
- poor parenting
- poor nutrition - lack of basic cooking & food skills
- drugs
- decline of respect and sense of society/community
this is not just a problem of child poverty, it is an entire culture which was there in Darlington, is here in Yeovil, and doesn't sound a million miles away from Dewsbury either. You can't solve moral, spiritual and relational anarchy with money and government initiatives.
Update: a different view here. Valid points: But if, in the rush to apply blame or make easy conclusions, we are to attribute her abduction to the complex and sometimes dysfunctional relationships among working class communities, we must also acknowledge that their unordered affairs also contributed to her being saved.
2nd update: I've changed the title of this post, didn't feel comfortable using individual names when they can probably do without it. DM Andy has posted on this topic too, worth a read.
No comments:
Post a Comment