Stolen Childhood Event (30th April 2014)

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A conference to explore the dangers to which our children are increasingly exposed in society today, and the reasons for this, putting forward strategies for change at both government and family levels.

Hosted by the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group

Stolen Childhood

We live in one of the most affluent societies the world has ever known, yet morally and emotionally our children have never been more at risk. Half of all children today are born outside marriage, and increasingly couples are taking the view that ‘legal’ recognition and sanction is irrelevant. Is this true?

It is estimated that 42% of all marriages today end in divorce, while non–married partners are four times more likely to split than their married counterparts. The reality is that over 50% of children will never know the reassurance of a stable home life with their birth mother and father – yet we know that this provides the best environment in which children flourish. The cost to government of this growing family disintegration is enormous – but the ‘cost’ to children is devastating.

Add to that the growing social pressures on children, reinforced by education, to have sex from an increasingly early age without adequate warning of the dangers, and it is small wonder that mental health and suicide rates among the young have reached an all-time high. The inescapable truth is that we are raising a generation of dysfunctional and unhappy children, prioritising adult ‘sexual wants’ over child ‘needs’ – causing irreparable damage that steals their childhood.

Consider these aspects of modern life – some accepted and endorsed without question – but which have a much darker side:

• Sex education in schools – Giving children information or a strategy for grooming?
• Social media – A useful tool for communication or an instrument for bullying and triggering suicide?
• Same-sex parenting – A type of loving family or a blight on normal human development?
• Pornography – A means to exploring sexuality or a damaging distortion of healthy sex?
• Minor attracted persons – A section of society with legitimate rights or a careful re-branding to promote paedophilia?