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Marriage is the foundation of a just society, as it protects the most vulnerable among us, children, he continued. It is the only institution that unites children with their mothers and fathers together. We pray for the Court, that its deliberations may be guided by truth and justice so as to uphold marriage's true meaning and purpose.
As another single mother on Sumner Road decked her row-house stoop with Christmas lights and a plastic Santa, Ms. Hawkins recalled that her middle childs father has never spent a holiday or birthday with her. In her neighborhood in Southeast Washington, 1 in 10 children live with both parents, and 84 percent live with only their mother. In every state, the portion of families where children have two parents, rather than one, has dropped significantly over the past decade. Even as the country added 160,000 families with children, the number of two-parent households decreased by 1.2 million. Fifteen million U.S. children, or 1 in 3, live without a father, and nearly 5 million live without a mother. In 1960, just 11 percent of American children lived in homes without fathers.
America is awash in poverty, crime, drugs and other problems, but more than perhaps anything else, it all comes down to this, said Vincent DiCaro, vice president of the National Fatherhood Initiative: Deal with absent fathers, and the rest follows. People look at a child in need, in poverty or failing in school, and ask, What can we do to help? But what we do is ask, Why does that child need help in the first place? And the answer is often its because [the child lacks] a responsible and involved father, he said.
Dangerous spiral
The spiral continues each year. Married couples with children have an average income of $80,000, compared with $24,000 for single mothers. We have one class that thinks marriage and fatherhood is important, and another which doesnt, and its causing that gap, income inequality, to get wider, Mr. DiCaro said. The predilection among men to walk away from their babies is concentrated in the inner cities. In Baltimore, 38 percent of families have two parents, and in St. Louis the portion is 40 percent. The near-total absence of male role models has ripped a hole the size of half the population in urban areas.
Tiny selfless deeds trickle in to fill that hole as the natural human desire for intimacy is fulfilled: One afternoon last week as a girl hoisted a half-eaten ice cream sandwich high over her pigtailed head, Larry McManus, the father of the girls sister, bent down to eat out of her hands as he picked up the girls from school. I know dads that say they aint their kids. I see dads being disrespectful of the mothers. And I see ones who take other mens kids to football games because they know their fathers arent around, said Mr. McManus, an ex-felon who said he is trying to make a lot of changes right now.
Read more: Fathers disappear from households across America - Washington Times
"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear these cases is a significant moment for our nation," Archbishop Cordileone said. "I pray the Court will affirm the fact that the institution of marriage, which is as old as humanity and written in our very nature, is the union of one man and one woman. Marriage is the foundation of a just society, as it protects the most vulnerable among us, children. It is the only institution that unites children with their mothers and fathers together. We pray for the Court, that its deliberations may be guided by truth and justice so as to uphold marriage's true meaning and purpose," Archbishop Cordileone said.
Ban adoption! Those fools are the child's parents.
Um....no. It's called sarcasm. When I see absurdity I often respond with absurdity.Ban adoption! Those fools are the child's parents.
So you would rather see a child go through a life of misery with parents that either a. dont want them or b. cant provide for them, becuase why? All I read in that statement was you would rather see a child suffer and most likely end up in jail over them leading a productive life prorivded by their two proud fathers or mothers..
Um....no. It's called sarcasm. When I see absurdity I often respond with absurdity.Ban adoption! Those fools are the child's parents.
So you would rather see a child go through a life of misery with parents that either a. dont want them or b. cant provide for them, becuase why? All I read in that statement was you would rather see a child suffer and most likely end up in jail over them leading a productive life prorivded by their two proud fathers or mothers..
The inner cities, where only 1 in 10 black children live with both parents, and the wealthy suburbs, where many fathers spend more than 60 hours a week on the job, have more in common than meets the eye, family advocates and faith leaders said. They made the comments Thursday after The Washington Times published an analysis this week of U.S. census data that provoked concern for children from widely disparate camps. Welfare policies among the poor have put government in the role of the father and equated fatherhood with a monthly check, said Glenn T. Stanton, director of family formation studies at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs. This has left many fathers free to walk away from their children knowing they will not starve thanks to programs that provide cash assistance to single mothers in proportion with the number of children they have, he said.
For fathers who are physically present, it sends a message that a few hundred dollars is a sufficient role. I think it would be difficult to overstate the significance of a welfare check replacing a marriage, though a committed relationship between a man and a woman even if the man provides only the same modest income that welfare payments would rivals maybe a college education as a path to upward mobility, Mr. Stanton said.
But if single mothers on welfare are married to the government, others said, the frantic and competitive lives of many men in the upper-middle class have wedded them to their jobs and relegated fatherhood to a role more centered on financial support than emotional guidance. I dont strictly believe its an inner-city deal, said Hugh Cunningham, pastor of the Sojourn Church in the Dallas suburbs. A lot of suburban men are married to their work. What they bring home is leftovers.
Although those wounds may be hidden under better clothing, the lack of two emotionally available parents crosses cultural and demographic lines. I dont think theres anyone who hasnt been shaped either by a fathers affirmations or the wound of their absence, Mr. Cunningham said. There isnt a whole lot of a difference between so-called Christian families and secular families when it comes to unsuccessful families or families that malfunction. No matter how much money is poured into entitlement programs or how much a father makes you spell love T-I-M-E, which is something the government cannot provide, said Joel Garcia of Latino Townhall, a Las Vegas-based charity whose mission is to provide education, mentoring and coaching to Hispanic youths. A dad is much more than an on-time, reliable paycheck. Hes a human who contributes in very unique ways, and its also the relationship between the father and the mother, Mr. Stanton said.
Moynihan revisited
Read more: Missing dads is a problem
