Broken families are the root of all social ills facing Bermuda, according to former Cabinet Minister Arthur Hodgson.

And among his solutions is an end to discrimination against fathers who invariably lose custody of their children in divorce cases.

"Any assessment of where we are and what we have to do must include an investigation of marriage and divorce, the parental rights of two parents, out-of-wedlock births, adoption without the consent of the father, support, maintenance and inheritance," said the Hamilton West MP.

Mr. Hodgson's prescriptions were outlined in a speech given at a forum Tuesday at Cathedral Hall. He was in fact preaching to the converted. The forum - entitled "Boys to Men, Men to Fathers, Fathers to Visitors" - was organised by Child Watch, a local interest group seeking to do away with sole custody decisions in divorce cases.

"We strive to prove that children need both parents," said Eddie Fisher, Child Watch president. "We are an organisation of fathers dedicated to making an impact on the lives of our children in a positive way."

Mr. Hodgson told the audience of about 50 that "the alienation of individuals from their children" was Bermuda's number one problem.

"It is the bedrock on which all of the other problems are built: crime,drugs, homelessness...they all derive from the fact that there has been a serious breakdown in family life. The presumption by the courts and by Government that there can be a solution to these other problems without confronting our failures in the most basic social organisation is itself a crime against the people."

He said social problems were costing taxpayers about $40 million annually. "There is a direct link between this enormous cost to the public and the absence of stable family life. I know there can be 'good' children coming out of 'bad' homes and visa-versa, but every study shows that there is the strongest correlation between the well being of a child and the home from which he comes."

Leaning heavily on Old Testament theology. Mr. Hodgson said Bermuda could lead the world in finding solutions to the breakdown of the family. But he said the entire community needed to be involved, not just the Government.

He reminded his audience of the teachings of King Solomon and Moses. "Right living exalts a country but wrong living is a embarrassment to any nation," he said, quoting Solomon. "When we wonder why it is that we are living in one of the richest countries in the world, but people can't find a house to live in and men can't fulfil such a basic right, indeed to fulfil such a basic human instinct as taking the responsibility of being a father to their children, one must admit that something is drastically wrong. Another historical figure of renown is the person of Moses. He described the precise condition that obtains in Bermuda today. The second time he gave the nation of Israel the law book, he told them that the absence of right values and practices would result in the people of that country being subject to the immigrants who had come to live among."

Mr. Hodgson's solutions included a number of reforms - make it more difficult to get a marriage licence, include marriage and family matters in the high school curriculum and empower Magistrates to refer cases for conciliation and mediation.

"As I said, it is not in the size of a country, or the amount of money in a country, or such things as the size of an army that determines a country's well being but how it orders the relationships between its people and of course its most significant relationship is the relationship between parents and children. Now I ask you, is there a greater than Moses among us, that we can decide with our laws that a child doesn't even have to recognise the existence of one of its parents, except as a source of material support? What idiot ever conceived of the idea that children only needed one of the parents that nature gave them and could therefore grant custody to one parent and ignore the other?"

Mr. Fisher told The Royal Gazette that other countries were beginning to move in the direction of awarding joint parental custody to couples who split up. Current practice, he said is "a recipe for disaster".

"Separating a child from one parent will go down in history as being the worst possible decision for the child," said the divorced father of two.