The family in social policy: an introduction to the families commission special issue.

• Author: Pryor, Jan

"Other things many change us, but we start and end with family." Anthony Brandt

This special issue of Social Policy Journal has as its focus issues that face whanau and families in New Zealand and, by implication, the relationships between those issues and social policy.

"Family Social Policy" is not a clearly demarcated discipline in New Zealand nor, indeed, in other parts of the world. It is hard, however, to find many policies that do not have an impact on families either directly or indirectly. And although we may and often do interrogate policies for their impact on the economy or the environment, it is far less likely that a "family lens" will be applied to policy making.

WHY SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED WITH THE IMPACT OF POLICIES ON FAMILIES?

First, intimate relationships are important for the wellbeing of all individuals, and policies have the potential to enhance or to impede the formation and sustenance of positive family relationships.

Second, well-functioning families foster the development of socially engaged and successful young people who contribute to the wellbeing of wider society. This implies a responsibility for families toward society, since dysfunctional families impose costs on societies in the form of supporting distressed children, paying for mental health services, and providing benefit support.

Third, well functioning families are inextricably linked with economic productivity and flourishing workplaces. When intimate relationships are healthy, when parent-child relationships are fostered, then adults in the work force contribute measurably more to their workplace than those whose family relationships are stressed.

In sum, the oft quoted sentiment that families are good for society remains true. In the words of Urie Bronfenbrenner:

The family is the most powerful, the...