Published on Exchange Chambers, 15 May 2024, to mark the 30th anniversary of the International Day of Families.

Today is the International Day of Families — and also the 30th anniversary of the day, inaugurated on 15th May 1994, in a year marked as the International Year of the Family.

As a family law barrister and an adherent to international human rights as a governing paradigm, today is a poignant and apposite day to reflect upon what ‘family’ means in today’s society and the threats it faces.

What Is the Family Today?

The presence of single or lone-parent families and unmarried, cohabiting parent families across the UK has proliferated dramatically. In 1989 there were just over a million lone-parent families in the UK; by 2023 this figure had risen to 3.2 million. The law has, arguably, failed to keep up with these developments, leaving some family structures unrecognised and unprotected.

The Threat of Poverty

Inequality and poverty are often factors in care proceedings. A research review published in March 2022 by the Nuffield Foundation found that reductions in income and economic shocks increase the number of children subjected to neglect and abuse. The cost-of-living crisis has plunged more families into poverty. The loss of Sure Start centres and the two-child cap on Child Benefit have only added to the threats faced by the most vulnerable families.

The Existential Threat of Climate Change

At the macro level, the family is threatened by the existential threat posed by climate change — with the burden falling disproportionately on those already most vulnerable. Today the UN publishes two important papers: “Climate Change and Families” and “Home, Family, and Climate Change” — highlighting the urgent need to centre families in our response to the climate emergency.

In commemorating the International Day of Families, we must be honest about the multiple, overlapping threats to family life — and recommit to the policies and practices that give families the support they need to thrive.