Thursday, March 21, 2002

A story published today by the Detroit Free Press reports that formation of the experimental Michigan Family Independence Agency running in Detroit, Berrien, Kent, Charlevoix, Emmet and Genesee counties is one of three attempts by Michigan to nudge welfare recipients toward marriage-- or better relationships between mom, dad and child. The idea is becoming one of the most-talked-about aspects of national welfare reform.

This year, Congress must reauthorize the 1996 welfare law, which mandated work in return for benefits. The Bush administration is proposing setting aside $300 million of the $16.5-billion program -- about 2 percent -- to fund marriage initiatives. A Democratic plan coauthored by U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, includes spending $100 million annually for family formation.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, in a recent phone interview with reporters, said he believes the $300-million initiative would fund things like premarital counseling and classes on improving listening skills. He said that while marriage is a goal, he recognizes it may not be the best option for everyone.

"Children are better off in two parent families, usually -- not always, but usually," Thompson said. "Economically, emotionally, . . . when you have two parents there . . . I believe, the child is much better adjusted."

In Michigan, besides the more than $500,000 family formation program, the FIA is writing a $250,000 marriage initiative and a $500,000 fatherhood program. State Rep. Mark Jansen, R-Grand Rapids, chairman of the FIA appropriations subcommittee, has been a major backer of all three experiments.

"All of the research is basically saying that if you have both parents involved . . . it is better for the kids," Jansen said. "We spend a tremendous amount of money on children but it is always after the fact. . . . Let's look for a way to be more preventive in this process."

One study cited to support marriage and greater father involvement includes a study by David Farrington, a professor at Cambridge University, who found that divorce of parents before the child is 10 is a major predictor of adolescent delinquency.

Just reaching out to dads is a radical change. For years the state's welfare agency punished women who lived with the father of their children, said Clarence Willis Jr., Wayne County FIA chief deputy director.

"As an agency, for years our policy was if the mother with children is on assistance, dad could not be involved with the family and should not be around," he said.

The FIA wants to reach the women when their babies are just a few weeks old because statistically, the couples are more likely to be together when the child is very young, Willis said.

But Renee McCune, director of health education services for the Detroit Medical Center's Community Health Initiative, said that by seven weeks, many of the couples she sees are already apart. She said she thinks the classes should start before the baby is born.

"I think you have an opportunity then to prepare people for changes in their relationship with the birth of the baby," McCune said. "What we're hearing now are a lot of these guys are gone immediately after the baby is born or soon after."