Fiona Stanley says 1 in 5 unfit to be parents

By Evonne Barry
September 28, 2008 02:14am
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Fiona Stanley says 20pc of parents are 'unfit'
Either work too much or don't have parenting skills
Future generations threatened, she says

ONE in five Australian mums and dads is unfit to be a parent, according to child-health expert and former Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley.She says they either lack the means or the life skills to raise children or cannot devote enough time to their kids because of excessive work commitments.
Professor Stanley, an adviser to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, has also slammed the Federal Government's policy on paid parental leave.
She said a national effort - on the scale of the climate-change movement - was needed to protect the futures of Australian children.
"We need an Al Gore for child development," the founder of the Institute for Child Health Research said.
"There are a worrying number of threats to children's health in society today.
"If we don't respond to these challenges ... we will be looking at our generation, my generation, as being the last generation that lives longer than its parents.
"If you look at the overall trend in many problems, they are actually showing no improvement - and some of them are getting dramatically worse."
Professor Stanley said paid parental leave, being assessed by the Federal Government, was crucial.
"The fact we don't have maternity leave or parental leave in Australia is just indicative of our lack of valuing of parents," she said.
A draft report for the Productivity Commission's inquiry into paid parental leave will be released tomorrow.
Professor Stanley said as many as one in five parents were financially and socially ill-equipped for child-rearing.
"There's this increasing group of parents who are just not making ends meet. They don't have the capacity to be parents.
"And they may represent as much as 20 per cent of the population when you add in Aboriginal people and the most disadvantaged in society.
"There are a lot of people who are going to find it difficult to parent."
Mental illness, obesity, asthma and substance abuse were the biggest risks for Australian children, Professor Stanley said.