Dr Williams called for joined up thinking about children's issues

The call from the Most Reverend Rowan Williams came as he made his maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate about children's rights in the 21st Century.

Dr Williams also pressed for more joined up thinking across government about youngsters' needs, hinting at his support for establishing a children's commissioner.

He also used the speech to urge greater understanding between Christian and Muslim communities at a time when such relationships needed reinforcing.

Dr Williams argued that many parents had problems managing stress, anger and conflict, especially in disadvantaged families.

'Damaging culture'

The archbishop told peers: "Much the most important work that can be done in the field of parenting skills is in addressing these issues.

"At the same time we face a culture of work which is in itself inimical to the values we wish to develop.

"Fathers of young children work statistically the longest hours among our working population.

"It is a reminder to us that while it is perfectly right to think of work as one of the more reliable routes out of poverty, that can only be true in a constructive way in the long run if our culture of work becomes more humane and less pressurised."

Such pressures were also felt by well-off families, said Dr Williams.

Children's commissioner?

He stressed the need for Whitehall to coordinate its efforts to tackle problems affecting children.

"Legislation affecting families and children crosses a wide number of departmental boundaries in government," he went on.

"And from time to time the cry has been raised that it is time to see some coordinating structure which will have that overview of the needs of families and children.

"I hope that challenge to a co-ordinating role within government will not go unheard.

"The experience in Wales of the development of the role of the children's commissioner has reminded us how important it can be to have some figure or figures who have that broader role, that broader vision and remit to their work."

Faith boundaries

Dr Williams, who was head of the Church in Wales before his new appointment, said experience there showed barriers could be broken down if churches and local Muslim communities worked together.

"That area could well be one of further development at a time when relationships between faith communities need reinforcement, cementing and solidifying," he said.

"It is a sad fact that it is not always our shared aspirations that give us the deepest sense of our common humanity but shared problems and the cross boundary problems affecting faith communities."

Dr Williams' speech was praised by his predecessor as archbishop, Lord Carey of Clifton, who emphasised the continuing strength of traditional families.

"There is much to celebrate about the family," he said.

"Eighty per cent of dependent children still live in two parent families in the UK and by far the majority of parents seek to be good at the increasingly difficult task of bringing their children up well."

But the term family was now being used for many different types of association, with single parents created by death or divorce.

Since the 1980s, there might well have been a "dramatic cultural revolution" in society.