Sonia Mitchell, Gleaner Writer

( L - R ) Kelly, Patterson-Green

For some people, the drive to restore the family may be nothing but a waste of time as the society is beyond redemption.

However, Dr Grace Kelly, chairperson in the Department of Behavioural Sciences at Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, supports the notion of a campaign to restore what many believe is the foundation of society.

"The family is the first insti-tution that God had designed for the longevity of the human race, and it is important to maintain it," Kelly told The Gleaner.

Back to family basics

She argued that going back to family basics was key to its reclamation. She said that a good family life leads to a healthy environment and a better society and nation.

Said Kelly: "As families become emotionally unbalanced, and with limited resources, their chances of survival become less effective."

For Cassandria Patterson-Green, a firefighter parent living in Eltham Park, St Catherine, training begins at home.

Another parent, Carlton West, from Alston, Clarendon, believes that poverty is a major cause of broken families, as parents hustle for the next dollar, to the detriment of ideal childcare.

Focus on your family life

POSITIVE Parenting

West said, "It is important to focus on your family life, seeing that someone may be abusing a family member and you don't even realise it."

Kathy Roberts and Basil Ducille, both associate counsellors at Family Life Ministries in Kingston, said the deterioration in family values signals a disintegrating social fabric.

The counsellors blame crumbling family values on the absentee parents being lured overseas to earn bigger bucks.