Tuesday, September 17, 2002

A story published today by the Washington Times reports that most Americans have traditional views about the family even though they don't always act according to their stated beliefs, say sponsors of a new book about the condition of the American family.

"The evidence is overwhelming that a family built on the foundation of marriage remains the best possible environment for raising healthy, stable, well-adjusted children," said Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), which yesterday released "The Family Portrait: A Compilation of Data, Research and Public Opinion on the Family."

"The Family Portrait" is a good resource because it shows both long- and short-term family trends, said Urban Institute researcher Gregory Acs, who appeared on an FRC panel discussion of the book.

For instance, between 1960 and 1995, the share of children living with two biological parents fell dramatically but then leveled off, he said. Teen birthrates rose until the 1990s and have fallen steadily, while births to all unmarried women climbed during the same period but plateaued after the mid-1990s.

Ironically, the federal government stopped collecting comprehensive data on marriage and adoption — the two primary forms of family formation — in the 1990s.

The data in the FRC book show that government funding of institutional day care is out of step with parents' choices, said Charmaine Crouse Yoest, who teaches at the University of Virginia, and Allan Carlson, president of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society.

It's well known that grandparents or other relatives are the top child care choice of families with working mothers, but it's less known that the second choice is for the father or mother to care for the children themselves, either at work or by working opposite shifts, said Mrs. Yoest.

Nonetheless, the government gives "massive aid" through the Dependent Care Tax Credit for professional child care, even though this is the least popular choice of parents, said Mr. Carlson, who is FRC's new Distinguished Fellow for Family Policy Studies.

Government can't instill values or spiritual context into family policies, said Mr. Carlson, but government can change its tax policies to recognize the inherent social importance of marriage, parenting and children.

"Corporations and government exist to serve families, not the other way around," he said.