Family Education Trust is a registered charity (No 1070500) committed to researching the causes and consequences of family breakdown and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
The organisation was founded in 1971 by the late Stanley Ellison, a London GP specialising in preventative medicine. Dr Ellison observed that many of his patients were consulting him about medical problems that were directly related to family breakdown and became convinced that the permissive standards and laws of the 1960s were beginning to take their toll on the physical and mental health of large numbers of people.
In the early 1970s, the new social experiment was in its infancy and the prevailing view was that medical and scientific advances, coupled with more generous welfare provisions for those unable to support themselves, would prevent any ill-effects and that, on the whole, people would be happier if freed from the constraints of traditional morality.
As a result of a letter published in The Times, Dr Ellison was contacted by people who shared his concern that the breakdown of the marriage-based family would have damaging consequences not only for individuals, but for society as a whole. It was therefore decided to establish an organisation to closely monitor social trends and to conduct research on a broad range of family-related issues. This marked the beginning of Family Education Trust.