Supporting Responsible Fatherhood, Promoting Marriage, and Encouraging Greater Involvement of Fathers in the Lives of Their Children...
SUPPORTING RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD, PROMOTING MARRIAGE, AND ENCOURAGING GREATER INVOLVEMENT OF FATHERS IN THE LIVES OF THEIR CHILDREN, ESPECIALLY ON FATHER'S DAY -- (House of Representatives - June 13, 2006)
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.
Mr. Speaker, marriage rates are down, divorce is up, unemployment is high, and there are many other social and economic factors which have led to a reduction in the leadership of families by two adults. There are more single family homes and more and more absence of fathers from the lives of children.
I have observed these trends for a number of years and, therefore, rise in strong support of H. Res. 318, a bill supporting responsible fatherhood, promoting marriage and encouraging greater involvement of fathers in the lives of their children, especially on Father's Day.
As we express our support for responsible fatherhood, we should not forget one key aspect of being a responsible father, regular financial contributions. Many low-income, noncustodial parents are barely able to support themselves, let alone their children. For example, as many as one-quarter of noncustodial fathers have incomes below the poverty line. Moreover, they generally experience multiple barriers to employment, including limited work experience, no high school diplomas, no college degrees, criminal histories, transportation restrictions and substance abuse, which really means that they have problems and need help with those problems.
The multiple barriers to employment coupled with child support enforcement rules that are ill-matched to meet the needs of low-income, noncustodial parents often present major disincentives to work or incentives to work in the informal or underground economy, making this population incredibly difficult to recruit and serve within existing fatherhood programs.
Given the widely understood and acknowledged benefits of an actively involved father in the lives of children, we would see that more children have self-control and are less likely to be found within the penal system. From research, we have observed that 63 percent of suicides, 71 percent of pregnant teens, and 90 percent of homeless runaway children are from homes without a father.
Children who develop relationships with their fathers are more likely to develop healthy adult relationships and to feel secure regarding who they are. A father's presence in a child's life is a powerful deterrent to delinquency.
We should work together to remove barriers from employment that affect noncustodial parents and in many instances prevent them from assuming a supportive role in the lives of their children, and we have to find ways to facilitate their involvement.
I have been pleased to work for the last several years with a noted attorney, Jeffrey Levin, who has written a book about father's rights and responsibilities, and every year before Father's Day we convene a full day of activities, seminars, discussions, programs that are designed to help fathers find the way to come back into or reconnect with their children.
I also want to commend the Governor of the State of Illinois, a former Member of this body, Governor Rod Blagojevich, for establishing a fatherhood council for the State and appointing Attorney Levin to be the chairman of that.
So we know that in addition to encouraging fathers to be involved that we need to do more than that. We need to facilitate involvement by promoting male involvement in Head Start and other early childhood education programs, by supporting Little League and other programs and encouraging fathers to be an integral part of those.
So I commend the gentleman for introducing this legislation, express strong support for it.
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