Fathers Who Are Husbands Make ALL The Difference

What is the ULTIMATE anti-poverty weapon for kids? …A wedding ring on Dad’s finger!

“The principal cause of child poverty in the U.S. is the absence of married fathers in the home,” Robert Rector, senior research fellow in domestic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation, “Marriage is a powerful weapon in fighting poverty. Being married has the same effect in reducing poverty as adding five to six years to a parent’s education level.”

There are severe social costs of record-high births outside marriage – and of homes without fathers.

The statistics are staggering … four of every 10 babies overall are born to unmarried women. But, MORE than HALF the Hispanic births and SEVEN of every 10 births for black women involve NO MARRIAGE .

Marriage matters!

About two of every three poor children live in single-parent households. Yet if poor single moms married the fathers of their children, nearly two out of three would be lifted out of poverty.

Despite the media line, teen pregnancy plays only a small part: In 2008, the most recent year for which data is available, babies born to girls under 18 accounted for 130,000, or 7.5 percent, of the total 1.72 million out-of-wedlock births.

“It’s not as simple as young men “manning up” and becoming the lawfully wedded husbands of their girlfriends, live-in or otherwise. These unmarried mothers tend to be in their 20s, without much income or education. They come to depend on public assistance; many learn how to work the welfare system.”

A child raised in a home where Dad is married to Mom is much less likely :
to live in poverty….. get arrested as a juvenile…… be suspended or expelled from school…. be treated for emotional or behavioral problems….. or drop out before completing high school.

And the evidence suggests that, on average, children who live with their biological mother and father do better than those who live in step families or with cohabiting partners."

Perhaps, given these facts, policies that strengthen marriage for those who choose it and that discourage unintended births outside of marriage might just be sensible goals.

Maybe, government could start by providing facts on the role of healthy marriages in reducing poverty and improving the well-being of children. Young people could be taught skills for selecting a wife or husband. The importance of developing a stable marital relationship before bringing children into the world could be emphasized.

A program promoting a notion of ‘fatherhood’ that doesn’t involve the father being married or in the home does not cut it!

SO…to all the DADS in my family, and PARTICULARLY to my very much married sons and my son-in-law..I love and respect you. You are all doing an AWESOME job! God Bless each and every one of you….I know your kids will do the same throughout their lives!!