Success Against Poverty Requires Thousands of Fathers

Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation. They are teachers and coaches. They are mentors and role models. They are examples of success and the men who constantly push us toward it. But if we are honest with ourselves, well admit that what too many fathers also are is missing -- missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities,acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.

-- Barack Obama, 2008

Last month, Gov. Tim Kaine announced that he is creating a Poverty Reduction Task Force. In announcing the creation of this group, the governor said that providing for the neediest Virginians will be a tough political sell, and then went on to criticize House Republicans.

If this initiative -- coming as it does in Tim Kaine's last six months as governor, but in his first six months as DNC chairman -- is really only a cynical partisan exercise to score political points in an election year, then I am afraid that we will miss an opportunity to help the nearly 13 percent of Virginia children who currently live below the federal poverty line, and that would be a shame.

On this issue we should be able to put aside partisanship and build consensus for a bipartisan solution. And we do not have to wait until January to get started. There is "instant financing" available right now.

Social scientists and economists are an argumentative lot. They seldom agree about anything. But nearly all agree on one point: The decline of marriage, and of the two-parent family, is a major cause of child poverty, which, in turn, contributes to increased risks for children and greater demand for social services. The collapse of the family is a pandemic that poses a clear and present danger to all Virginians today.

Approximately two-thirds of poor children live in single-parent homes. The collapse of marriage is also a major contributor to welfare dependence, crime, abuse, drugs, failure in school, and teen pregnancy.

A recent Brookings Institution report states: "A child born to a mother who is a teenager, has not finished high school, and is not married is nine times more likely to be poor than if the mother is an adult who has finished high school and is married."

According to a report authored by the Heritage Foundation Center for Data Analysis, two-thirds of poor women currently having children out of wedlock would be lifted out of poverty immediately if they were married to the fathers of their children. While we sometimes shy away from saying it directly, we all know that broken families are the single largest cause of poverty in America.

In 1996, Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, finding that "marriage is the foundation of a successful society" and that "marriage is an essential institution of a successful society which promotes the interests of children."

Three of the four key goals of the welfare reform legislation were marriage related: promote marriage, encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families, and prevent and reduce out-of-wedlock births.

Implementation of welfare reform nationwide has focused almost exclusively on the fourth goal of ending welfare dependence by promoting job preparation and work, known as welfare to work. In Virginia, this strategy has been so successful that, through programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), we have reduced the number of Virginia families dependent on welfare by 53.8 percent, from 61,905 families in August 1996 to 28,585 families in June 2008 -- a reduction of 33,320 families.

But even dramatic progress in reducing poverty by moving Virginians from welfare dependency to work, has been limited by the lingering problem of absent fathers. Most experts agree that the way to confront the lingering effects of this pandemic is to implement the remaining three strategies.

Encouraging marriage, "fireproofing" existing marriages, and promoting responsible fatherhood are the keys to reducing poverty. How could we implement these strategies here in Virginia?

A Virginia Healthy Marriage and Fatherhood Initiative (VHMFI) would be designed (1) to strengthen families and build healthy marriages through accessible marriage education services; (2) to strengthen the role of the father in a child's life through programs that support healthy marriage activities; and (3) to promote responsible parenting and foster economic stability within the community by bolstering the economic stability of the two-parent family.

The initiative would focus on encouraging marriage and preventing divorce through marriage education programs delivered by nonprofit community and faith-based organizations, foundations, local government, social service entities, schools, health care providers, and state agencies. It would serve voluntary participants throughout Virginia, and especially in low-income communities.

It would focus on supporting programs that encourage responsible fatherhood -- helping fathers overcome barriers that may prevent them from being an effective and nurturing parent within a marriage. The initiative should include a media campaign to emphasize the importance of marriage and responsible fatherhood, which would build public awareness of the consequences for children of family breakdown -- as well as support for marriage as an institution and support for efforts to promote marriage and two-parent families.

These programs could be delivered through grants or contracts with public and private sector service or program providers, and be administered by Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marilyn Tavenner, who will co-chair the governor's task force.

A Virginia Healthy Marriage and Fatherhood Initiative could be funded entirely with surplus funds from the current Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant, provided annually to the Virginia secretary of health and human resources by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, under the welfare reform legislation of 1996.

To start a pilot program for VHMFI, we could allocate as little as $10 million, based on reviews of the costs of similar healthy marriage initiatives in other states, particularly Oklahoma, which has a successful statewide marriage initiative. Funding for VHMFI could be drawn entirely from surplus TANF block grant dollars resulting from Virginia's successful implementation of welfare reform since 1996.

Because TANF dollars come with no strings attached, $16 million in surplus TANF money has been redirected to other state programs in the current state budget, with $9.8 million allocated to the Department of Social Services for unspecified "eligible activities."

Secretary Tavenner could recover almost immediately some portion of the TANF money redirected to other programs as the initial seed money for a healthy families initiative -- without any additional congressional or General Assembly action required. We could also dedicate a portion of Virginia's share of new dollars appropriated in the recent federal stimulus bill.

The governor's Poverty Reduction Task Force could devote its very first meeting to the actual development of a Virginia Healthy Marriage and Fatherhood Initiative, with involvement by experts in the marriage and pro-family movements, including ministers, economists, social workers, and even some legislators. Actions to implement the initiative include the following:

• Establish a Governor's Working Group on Healthy Marriage and Fatherhood.

• Convene a meeting of marriage and family experts.

• Review research and information to establish a program grounded in solid social science data and best practices from other states.

• Develop a draft initiative for coordination.

• Provide opportunity for public comment and input.

• Communicate with members of the General Assembly and key staff throughout the process, as needed.

• Finalize the proposed initiative.

Ronald Reagan used to say, "There is no limit to what you can achieve if you don't care who gets the credit." His Democratic contemporary, former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, said, "The principle objective of American government at every level should be to see that children are born into intact families and that they remain so." That's statesmanship.

But even in politics, success has a thousand fathers. When an idea has the support of social scientists, economists, ministers, and politicians from Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Tim Kaine to Bill Janis, it would hardly be a "tough political sell," especially when every Virginian could benefit so profoundly from that idea.

Bill Janis, a Republican, represents the 56th District in the Virginia House of Delegates. His district includes Goochland, Louisa, and part of Henrico. Contact him at (804) 308-0912 or bill@billjanis.com.