<< May 2001  >>

Divorce still makes children feel alone

A story released today by the Associated Press reports that the University of Chicago's biennial General Social Survey, taken last year, found that more than a fifth of children in surveyed households lived in single-parent homes -- a fourfold increase since the first survey in 1972. The 2000 Census found a similar trend.

Lauren is one of those children.

Most of the time, she lives with her mother just outside Traverse City, a Lake Michigan resort town that is home to about 78,000 people. She's with her dad, a doctor who lives nearby, on Wednesday nights and many weekends.

``We both get a lot of special one-on-one time with her,'' says Lauren's mother, Kim Coleman, a pediatrician. ``So that's been one good thing to come out of a difficult situation.''

Still, in the last year, Coleman has noticed Lauren worrying more about what people think, setting off those familiar butterflies or a case of the ``angries'' when the divorce, or her father's more recent split from his second wife, come up.

``When it bothers you,'' Lauren says, sitting on her bed at her mom's house, ``it bothers you a lot.''

However, there are those children who say divorce has actually improved their lives.

``At first, it was the most horrible thing,'' says 14-year-old Tori Schemelia, who lives in East Windsor, N.J., with her father and his new wife. Now, says her 10-year-old sister, Emily, ``there's no yelling at all.''

With the growing number of children going through divorce today, experts say services for them are sorely lacking, especially in a legal system known for pitting parent against parent.

Andrew Schepard, director of the Center for Children, Families and Law at Hofstra University on New York's Long Island, helped found a court-based program in his county that is one of a small but growing number that provide social workers and therapists specifically for children of divorcing parents.

The many children from divorced families she was seeing in her medical practice -- and the lack of coordinated services -- also inspired Lauren's mom to help set up the Divorce Resource Center in Traverse City 18 months ago.

She hopes what's starting as an information hot line will grow into a nonprofit center with everything from neutral space for parents to exchange children to bus service to the local women's shelter.

``Divorce is a part of our culture,'' Coleman says. ``We can either pretend it isn't there, or we can provide resources for people who are trying to make that transition.''

Among other things, the center tracks services for children, including a support group at one elementary school for students whose parents have split. Students at Sabin Elementary call it the ``divorce club.''

To get them talking, social worker Deb Newhouse sometimes hands students a backpack full of rocks painted with the names of feelings and emotions that may be weighing them down.

``I'm always amazed how much they know what that is,'' Newhouse says.

In the end, kids often find they share the same worries.

``They want their parents to get along. They want to know it's not their fault,'' she says. ``And they want to know that even though the family looks different, they'll be taken care of.''

One of the big things on Lauren's mind lately is her mother's upcoming marriage in August.

She admits that she's having trouble sharing her mom with her new boyfriend. And she says she's also trying to give up a longtime dream: that her parents will get back together.

``It's like wanting a doll that costs a billion dollars,'' Lauren says.

Her mom is aware of Lauren's feeling -- and divorce statistics. A new federal study found that nearly 40 percent of second marriages for women end in separation or divorce within 10 years.

But she's optimistic her new marriage will give Lauren the sense of family she's been craving.

``I used to feel so bad for Lauren. I mean, my dad used to come home and give my mom a hug and a kiss. They've always been so respectful of one another,'' Coleman says.

``I want Lauren to know what that's like. And I think she will -- I really do.''

Jim Ferguson, president and chief creative officer at Y&R New York, says such work remains the exception, noting, "There aren't a lot of companies gearing their efforts to single moms and unmarried couples."

Sunday, May 27, 2001

Treasury department prepares for disbursement of rebate checks

A story released today by the Associated Press reports that with President Bush poised to order rebates for nearly 100 million taxpayers, the Treasury Department is preparing a customized computer program that will sort through Internal Revenue Service records and issue checks ranging from $300 to $600, most by the end of September

The $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut package Bush intends to sign during the first week of June is retroactive to the beginning of the year, and the rebates are to adjust for overpayment. They reflect the first year of a new 10 percent income tax rate on the initial $6,000 of an individual's income, $12,000 for married couples.

Married couples will get checks for $600; single parents will receive $500; and single taxpayers will get $300

When lawmakers and the White House began discussing the possibility of refunds as a quick economic stimulus, the Treasury Department quietly began preparing for a burst of check-writing activity. Still, it will take up to four months to complete the process, officials said

Bush and many lawmakers were eager to send as much money back to taxpayers as quickly as possible, arguing that doing so could boost the economy. The rebate checks, along with decreasing tax withholdings, will also allow the tax-cut advocates to claim victory as they look ahead to next year's elections.

Thursday, May 24, 2001

Majority of Americans view pre-marital sex and divorce as morally okay

Among those Gallup respondents who report having a child under 18, 66% are currently married -- representing 23% of all Americans. Another 23% of parents are either divorced or have never been married, while 8% are currently living together with a partner

Clayton County has had a pension plan since 1971, but the last major revision was in 1995, Comer said.

CDC study shows that first marriages are more likely to fail

A story released today by CNN News reports that a report released by the the Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 43 percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce with in 15 years.The report from the Atlanta based group also showed that one in three first marriages end within 10 years and one in five end within five years.

In the CDC report, how long a marriage lasted appeared to be linked to how old the woman in the relationship was when the marriage began. Researchers said the older a woman was when she first got married, the longer that marriage was likely to last.

For example, 59 percent of marriages to brides under 18 end in separation or divorce within 15 years, compared with 36 percent of those married at age 20 or older.

CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan said the numbers are significant to the health-care field because separation and divorce can adversely affect the health of both adults and children.

"Past research has shown that divorce is associated with higher rates of mortality, more health problems, and more risky behaviors such as increased alcohol use," he said.

Other conclusions of the report included:

 • About 97 percent of separated non-Hispanic white women are divorced within five years of separation, compared with 77 percent of separated Hispanic women and only 67 percent of non-Hispanic black women.

 • Younger women who divorce are more likely to remarry: 81 percent of those divorced before age 25 remarry within 10 years, compared with 68 percent of those divorced at age 25 or later.

 • Non-Hispanic black women are less likely than other women to remain in a first marriage, to make the transition from separation to divorce, to remarry, and to remain in a remarriage.

"These data offer an important glimpse into the social fabric of this country," said Dr. Edward Sondik, director of CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, which conducted the study. "The implications of divorce cut across a number of societal issues, socioeconomics, health, and the welfare of our children."

The findings are based on data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, a study of 10,847 women 15 to 44 years of age.

Key provisions of the Senate tax-relief package

An article published today by the Seattle Times highlights the Senate's tax-relief package that is currently being debated in the Senate floor. The following key provision on the tax relief package  are:

Tax rates
• New 10 percent tax rate created retroactive to 2001. Applies to the first $6,000 of taxable income for single people, $12,000 for the married couples filing jointly.

• Other rates drop 1 percentage point each in 2002, 2005 and 2007. Rates drop from 39.6 percent to 36 percent; 36 percent to 33 percent; 31 percent to 28 percent; 28 percent to 25 percent.

Tuesday, May 22, 2001

Congress debates government involvement in marriage

A story released today by the Associated Press reports that Congress dove into the sensitive issue on whether the government should interfere in the personal lives of welfare recipients by encouraging marriage.

Two points appeared clear during a hearing Tuesday before a House Ways and Means subcommittee: Children who grow up in two-parent families are better off, and government knows very little about what it can do to encourage unwed parents to walk down the aisle.

A 1996 welfare overhaul specifically listed promoting marriage and encouraging the formation of two-parent families among its goals, but with minimal data and little public consensus about the role of government, few states have used their welfare money to this end.

Conservatives in the Bush administration, in Congress and in think tanks are suggesting that Congress should require states to spend some of their money promoting marriage or at least set aside some dollars for experimental programs.

``When we look at the tremendous negative effects of children growing up in broken homes, it behooves us to move expeditiously,'' said Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee on human resources.

He added that while more investigation is needed, he finds considerable interest among his colleagues. ``I hear a lot of enthusiasm for moving forward,'' he said.

Democrats at Tuesday's hearing were considerably more cautious.

``We need to be honest about the lack of information we have,'' said Rep. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.

Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., questioned whether states would want the federal government telling them how they have to spend their money.

Arizona and Oklahoma, however, have used welfare money to create pro-marriage programs. Both programs are in their early stages, and it's unclear how effective they will be.

``The mission of welfare reform should be to reduce poverty and help people achieve economic independence,'' said Laurie Rubiner of the National Partnership for Women &Families, ``not to engage in social engineering or discrimination against families that don't meet a particular ideal.''

Monday, May 21, 2001

The new face of the American family

A news story article published today by Newsweek reports that according to the newly released census report, the number of families headed by single mothers has increased  25 percent since 1990, to more than 7.5 million households.

Demographers now predict that more than half of the children born in the 1990's will spend at least part of their childhood in a single-parent environment. The census also indicated that the number of single fathers raising kids on their own is on the rise; they now head just over 2 million families.

Politicians from the White House on down, on the other hand, have been focusing on strengthening families and the institution of marriage. President George W. Bush believes that funding religious initiatives is one way Washington can foster family stability. Some states, such as Arizona and Louisiana, have established "covenant" marriages in which engaged couples are required to get premarital counseling.

"We can encourage, pressure, preach and give incentives to get people to marry," says Stephanie Coontz, author of "The Way We Never Were" and a family historian at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. "But still we have to deal with the reality that kids are going to be raised in a variety of ways, and we have to support all kinds of families with kids."

To read the full story please go to: http://www.msnbc.com./news/575968.asp

Divorce rates soar in bible belt states

A story published today by the Contra Costa Times reports that a posse of public health nurses, social workers, pastors and extension agents have been deputized to help bring down a divorce rate in Oklahoma. The governor, the Baptist leadership and the anti-divorce movement are collectively struggling to avert collisions between naive notions of wedded bliss and the reality of marriage.

It has been about four years since politicians here and in several other states began to acknowledge a troubling paradox: The divorce rate in much of the area where evangelical Christianity is particularly strong is roughly 50 percent above the national average.

In Arkansas, Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, declared a "marital emergency" in 1999 and vowed to curb the divorce rate in half by 2010.

He signed a covenant marriage law last month that allows couples to choose a marital contract that, in most cases, would require a two-year waiting period before a divorce became final. Louisiana has enacted similar laws, as has Arizona.

In Oklahoma, Gov. Frank Keating, also a Republican, diagnosed divorce as a principal cause of poverty in his state.

He started a much publicized, multipronged campaign, paid for with $10 million in federal welfare money, to cut the divorce rate by one-third in 10 years.

The Oklahoma Legislature, controlled by Democrats, has all but killed the governor's proposals for covenant marriage and the removal of mutual incompatibility as grounds for divorce.

But it has passed several of his other proposals, measures that call for creating a statewide network for premarital education and for training secular and religious marriage counselors.

"Seventy percent of our people go to church once a week or more," Keating said. "These divorce statistics are a scalding indictment of what isn't being said behind the pulpit."

The Rev. Anthony Jordan, executive director of the Baptist General Convention in Oklahoma, agreed.

"We are responsible," he said. "We are good in helping young people plan a wedding, but not in planning a marriage. And in our desire to be compassionate to those who are going through a divorce, the church has watered down a strong message in regard to the ills and sins of divorce."

Despite the efforts of the last several years, the institution of marriage is losing ground by some measures. The census found that in the 1990s the number of unmarried couples living together jumped by 97 percent in Oklahoma, 125 percent in Arkansas and 123 percent in Tennessee.

These increases in the heart of the area are well above the 72 percent increase in unmarried couples that the census found in the nation as a whole.

For the first time, the census showed that married couples with children made up less than a quarter of the U.S. population (23.5 percent). In Oklahoma, the percentage of such nuclear families was fractionally lower (23.2 percent).

"Those numbers are a total reflection of marriage as an institution that is losing its appeal," said Jerry Regier, Oklahoma's secretary of health and human services. "Our society has been overwhelmed by divorce."