Event Registration

Help The Family Foundation by registering for an event online!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

E-mail Alert

Donate Online

Contribute to The Family Foundation through our easy online donation form
CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Login

Login:

Password:

Information Alert: TFF Urges Kaine to Address Cause of Poverty

Victoria Cobb, President
Thursday, June 11, 2009

At a capitol press conference today The Family Foundation urged Governor Tim Kaine to add a working group to his Poverty Reduction Task Force that would address divorce, family fragmentation and out-of-wedlock births.

Joining me at the podium were Delegate Bill Janis (R-56, Glen Allen), Bob Ruthazer of First things First Richmond and our Marriage Commission, and Arne Owens, a former official in Administration for Children and Families in the US Department of Health and Human Service.

Last month Governor Kaine announced the formation of a Poverty Reduction Task Force, with the goal of announcing policy proposals to address poverty in the Spring of 2010, after the Governor’s final legislative session. I faxed a letter to the Governor yesterday urging him to add a new working group to his poverty task force. In the letter, I said that the most important single factor in reducing poverty in our Commonwealth is protecting and rebuilding the family. I added that social science overwhelmingly proves that the best safety net, indeed the best deterrent to poverty, is an intact, married, two-parent family.

According to sociologist Brad Wilcox of the University of Virginia and a member of The Family Foundation’s Marriage Commission, “The collective consequences of marriage are quite large. If we were to increase the percent of children living in married homes to the level we experienced in 1970, scholars estimate that 1 million fewer children each year would be suspended from school, 900,000 fewer children each year would engage in acts of delinquency or violence, and 61,000 fewer children each year would attempt suicide. We would also see child poverty drop by approximately 20 percent, and Virginia welfare spending drop by millions. Clearly, marriage matters to Virginia—and particularly to education, public order, and the fiscal health of the Commonwealth.”

In the letter I told Governor Kaine, “It is simply not possible to adequately address the issue of poverty in our Commonwealth without addressing the issues of family break up and family fragmentation.”

This past Sunday the Richmond Times Dispatch published an op-ed by Delegate Janis that detailed the importance of the two-parent home, and in particular fathers, in the economic, educational, and emotional development of children (Click here to read this excellent piece). As we approach Father’s Day, we are seeking to engage lawmakers, candidates for office, and the media in a discussion about the value of the family and its ability to address the issue of poverty.

We at The Family Foundation and the pro-family citizens we represent are often criticized as not caring about issues of social justice. Usually, this criticism centers around one primary problem – poverty. We believe that this criticism is inaccurate and misses the point of many of the initiatives and principles for which we advocate. The fact is that many of the issues we support address the issue of poverty at the root and not simply at the symptom. Parental choice in education for example, will help children in poverty become better educated to be able to take full advantage of the opportunities available to them. Such proposals involve less government, not more. Unfortunately, it seems that in our current cultural lexicon social justice equals government spending.

The positive impact of marriage and children born in wedlock is undeniable and supported by science. Increasing the number of marriages, strengthening existing marriages, and restoring marriage to its rightful place as an honored and encouraged union are goals that must be reestablished in our culture and in our public policy. If we are truly serious about reducing poverty in our Commonwealth, that is where we have to start.