A NEW REPORT on the disastrous state of the American family was issued recently by Princeton University and the Brookings Institute. “The Future of Children” contains all the bad news you already know, such as the nearly 40 percent illegitimacy rate and the harmful effects of single motherhood on children, and some news you may not know, such as that most unwed parents are actively involved with each other upon the birth of their child but break up within a few years.

Equally distressing are the recommendations and prescriptions offered by the report’s authors who suggest more programs and services, more marriage education classes, more daycare, more useless nagging of the poor and uneducated. They seem determined to disregard the obvious: that we are quickly becoming a matriarchal society from the bottom up, and why this is so. Radical sexual and economic freedom for women and the decline of masculinity, with government subsidies of single mothers aiding that decline,  have been a disaster. No government program will undo this reversal of roles. The authors seem to fully support the egalitarian society and its attendant assault on the traditional family. 

Here are their recommendations:

*Support the three T’s: Treat early, Treat often, and Treat together. Although many fragile families break up in the years after their babies are born, most of the parents are together at the time of the birth and most have high hopes for a future together. Services to fragile families at this “magic moment” should be immediate, intense, and focused on the couple in their role as cooperative parents.

* Decrease the number of nonmarital births by “going to scale” with programs designed to encourage more responsible sexual behavior and by expanding access to effective contraception among men and women who might not otherwise be able to afford it.

* Increase union stability and father involvement in fragile families by building on marriage-education programs aimed at improving relationship skills and communitybased programs aimed at raising nonresident fathers’ earnings, child support payments and parental involvement. For marriage and fatherhood programs, expand services to include employment and training and mental health components, and conduct rigorous evaluations to determine what works.

* Redesign tax and transfer programs, especially in-kind programs, so that children have access to high-quality early education and high-quality health care, and so that these benefits are not cut or reduced if parents marry or live together.

*Develop and rigorously evaluate new demonstrations in the areas of how postsecondary education and penal policy affect the lives of fragile families. Strengthen social, financial, and academic supports to low-income community college students and provide alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders.

                                                                     – Comments —

Clark Coleman writes:

We are informed in the report that when a baby is born to unwed parents, they “have high hopes for a future together.” Of course they do. Everyone has lots of hopes. I hope to be a millionaire someday, but the jury is out as to whether I will stop surfing the web and do it.

The question is, do they have a commitment for a future together? The answer appears to be no, else they would be married, and they would not all be apart within a few years of the child’s birth. So, who cares what their “hopes” are?

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