It didn’t pass me by that Obama is re-instating American dollars to international groups that support abortion. I just didn’t post about it because it was what he promised, furthermore, the Clintons also supported this. So it’s not surprising.
But here at home on the family front, Obama recognizes that fatherlessness is a problem and that marriage is a benefit:
Strengthen Fatherhood and Families: Barack Obama has re-introduced the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act to remove some of the government penalties on married families, crack down on men avoiding child support payments, ensure that support payments go to families instead of state bureaucracies, fund support services for fathers and their families, and support domestic violence prevention efforts. President Obama will sign this bill into law and continue to implement innovative measures to strengthen families.
And there, he is right–and I get the feeling these days that when Obama does something–people listen. So I just thought I’d highlight that.
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Rebecca adds: I haven’t read either of his autobiographies, and I don’t plan to. But I gather from those who have, whose judgement I respect, that fatherlessness was a big factor in shaping Obama’s character, values, and to a certain extent even his politics. Also, while the effects of an absent father, a flakey mother and an unreliable stepfather were hugely mitigated by Obama’s grandparents, who provided him with a stable home and an excellent education, he’s well aware that the vast majority of fatherless kids lack this kind of safety net. I look forward to the changes he will make to the American discussion about fatherhood.
Needless to say, the demographic that suffers most acutely from fatherlessness, both numerically and in the malignancy of its effects, are African Americans. Phenomenally high rates of delinquency, petty and serious crime, and dropping out of high school, as well as risk of imprisonment for boys and early pregnancy for girls, are closely connected to rampant fatherlessness in America’s black communities, as Kay Hymowitz and many others have documented.
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And the fatherless rate grew in accordance with the welfare state, something that we Canadians should pay attention to. This is seen in England, where single mothers abound, often with several children from different fathers. While I don’t like to see societies with huge gaps between the haves and have-nots, it seems that welfare does not really help the poor in the long run. Julie
Following on from Julie Culshaw’s comment, there is some excellent work on the relationship between welfare and single motherhood by a US academic, Libertad Gonzalez. She showed clearly that in Europe (the area of her study) there is a simple relationship between increases in welfare and the increase in single mother numbers. In the UK where welfare payments are the most generous in Europe there is the highest incidence.
Obama’s response to the problem seems simplistic to me, and more like revenge than a proper policy. The causes of fatherlessness are many, and in the UK heavily associated with welfare, but while that theory works statistically, it doesn’t always work when you look at individual cases. Most of the single mothers I know were abandoned, widowed, etc, or removed their children from unsuitable fathers. I only know one who chose to be a single mother.
In the UK welfare junkies used to get themselves dogs (usually lurchers), because the extra benefit payments they received exceeded the cost of feeding the dog. The authorities got wise to this and stopped the payments. Now welfare junkies breed children for the same reason.
Luckily I’m not a politician, so I don’t need to come up with a solution, but I’ll offer this thought: a child should always be a (modest) financial burden to parents; it should never be a way a parent can profit, either through welfare payments or child support. A child is a gift and a blessing, never a right.
Today’s entry on the blog imperfect prose, run by freelancer Emily Wierenga, speaks volumes: http://canvaschild.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/pro-politics-or-pro-love/