Personally, I would never declaw. I have a 5 year old and a 5 month old kitten. It requires patience and attention and a lot of scratching posts and floor scratchers. I recently bought a cat tree with a some posts which helped tremendously.
Actually, I have more trouble with the kitten jumping on the tables and up on my dressers, than scratching my furniture.
If for some reason the claws were infected or it was a matter of having to put the cat to sleep or declaw I would, but other than that I would not.
Soft paws are an alternative.
Mona, Honeybun and Little Chloe