A recent report from the Heritage Foundation reveals that the decline of marriage has had a catastrophic effect on families generally, and children in particular. Family restoration is desparately needed.
"The modern decline of marriage and family is well advanced. Whether measured by the increase in single parenthood, the increase in childhood poverty, the persistently high rate of divorce, or increasing cohabitation, the intact married family is a less common feature of life in the United States and other Western democracies than it was a generation ago. Buffeted by changing sexual mores, fraying family ties, and burgeoning welfare states that discourage family formation, marriage is in retreat in American culture and following a European pattern. Increasingly, this retreat is affecting the American middle class, formerly one of the strongholds of marriage. This retreat and the harms it inflicts will not be halted or reversed by accident."
Read the entire Heritage Foundation article by Chuck Donovan here: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/06/A-Marshall-Plan-for-Marriage-Rebuilding-Our-Shattered-Homes
Here are some additional highlights of the report:
TALKING POINTS
- The decline of marriage in the United States has reached alarming levels, following a European pattern that has seen cohabitation rates rise dramatically and out-of-wedlock births soar to more than 60 percent in several nations.
- Given the exhaustively documented impact of parental marital status on child well-being, concerted efforts are urgently needed to rebuild marriage and restore its relationship to childbearing and childrearing.
- The United States, by virtue of the character and history of its people, is positioned to defy the modern trend of marital decline and rebuild shattered homes through the equivalent of a Marshall Plan for Marriage.
- By extending the progress made in creating and identifying resources for healthy marriages and in reducing or eliminating marriage penalties in tax and welfare policy, new initiatives to promote strong families can lead to more stable homes and fewer demands imposed on taxpayers by failed families.
This report discusses:
Family restoration does not happen spontaneously, nor can shattered homes be rebuilt overnight. The realization of the phenomenon, and what to do about it, however, is a good beginning. Marriage does not have to decline, especially in your home. Protect kids by protecting marriage - and family restoration will begin.
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