Inequality Ignored, Does it matter?

SOCIETY

Ignoring an Inequality Culprit: Single-Parent Families

Intellectuals fretting about income disparity are oddly silent regarding the decline of the two-parent family.

An excerpt from this article:

Suppose a scientific conference on cancer prevention never addressed smoking, on the grounds that in a free society you can’t change private behavior, and anyway, maybe the statistical relationships between smoking and cancer are really caused by some other third variable. Wouldn’t some suspect that the scientists who raised these claims were driven by something—ideology, tobacco money—other than science?

Yet in the current discussions about increased inequality, few researchers, fewer reporters, and no one in the executive branch of government directly addresses what seems to be the strongest statistical correlate of inequality in the United States: the rise of single-parent families during the past half century.

The two-parent family has declined rapidly in recent decades. In 1960, more than 76% of African-Americans and nearly 97% of whites were born to married couples. Today the percentage is 30% for blacks and 70% for whites. The out-of-wedlock birthrate for Hispanics surpassed 50% in 2006. This trend, coupled with high divorce rates, means that roughly 25% of American children now live in single-parent homes, twice the percentage in Europe (12%). Roughly a third of American children live apart from their fathers.

Does it matter? Yes, it does. From economist Susan Mayer’s 1997 book “What Money Can’t Buy” to Charles Murray’s “Coming Apart” in 2012, clear-eyed studies of the modern family affirm the conventional wisdom that two parents work better than one.

“Americans have always thought that growing up with only one parent is bad for children,” Ms. Mayer wrote. “The rapid spread of single-parent families over the past generation does not seem to have altered this consensus much.”

In an essay for the Institute for Family Studies last December, called “Even for Rich Kids, Marriage Matters,” University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox reported that children in high-income households who experienced family breakups don’t fare as well emotionally, psychologically, educationally or, in the end, economically as their two-parent-family peers.

Abuse, behavioral problems and psychological issues of all kinds, such as developmental behavior problems or concentration issues, are less common for children of married couples than for cohabiting or single parents, according to a 2003 Centers for Disease Control study of children’s health. The causal pathways are about as clear as those from smoking to cancer.

More than 20% of children in single-parent families live in poverty long-term, compared with 2% of those raised in two-parent families, according to education-policy analyst Mitch Pearlstein’s 2011 book “From Family Collapse to America’s Decline.” The poverty rate would be 25% lower if today’s family structure resembled that of 1970, according to the 2009 report “Creating an Opportunity Society” from Brookings Institution analysts Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill. A 2006 article in the journal Demography by Penn State sociologist Molly Martin estimates that 41% of the economic inequality created between 1976-2000 was the result of changed family structure.

Earlier this year, a team of researchers led by Harvard economist Raj Chetty reported that communities with a high percentage of single-parent families are less likely to experience upward mobility. The researchers’ report—”Where Is the Land of Opportunity?”—received considerable media attention. Yet mainstream news outlets tended to ignore the study’s message about family structure, focusing instead on variables with far less statistical impact, such as residential segregation.

In the past four years, our two academic professional organizations—the American Political Science Association and the American Educational Research Association—have each dedicated annual meetings to inequality, with numerous papers and speeches denouncing free markets, the decline of unions, and “neoliberalism” generally as exacerbating economic inequality. Yet our searches of the groups’ conference websites fail to turn up a single paper or panel addressing the effects of family change on inequality.

Why isn’t this matter at the center of policy discussions?

Reform of the Family Justice System

Our Blueprint for Family Law in the 21st Century is based around a Bill of Rights for the Family and radical reform of the entire family justice system.

We Are Fathers4Justice – The Official Campaign Organisation

Our 10 Point Blueprint for Family Law

In 2004 Fathers4Justice published it’s Blueprint for Family Law in the 21st Century which presented the case for urgent, radical reform of the family justice system. This vital document sets our how an open, transparent and accountable family justice system would work for the benefit of children and families, free from the secrecy and conflict driven processes which have driven so many families apart.

The key principles of this document are:

1. A right in law for parents to have a meaningful parenting relationship with their children that reflects the status quo before separation. The burden of proof should be on the state to deny children access to a parent.
2. A right in law for grandparents to have a meaningful relationship with their grandchildren that reflects the status quo before separation.
3. A legal presumption of ‘shared’ or ‘equal’ parenting based upon the status quo before separation with a default 50/50 starting point.
4. The effective enforcement of court orders, including the transfer of residence from a recalcitrant parent. Parents who deny contact should not be able to act with impunity.
5. Mandatory mediation and education courses about the effects of family breakdown prior to the engagement of legal representatives and court action.
6. The introduction of an open, transparent and accountable system of justice predicated on peaceful resolution, not conflict and delay. Courts are for criminals, not families.
7. The removal of an unelected, unaccountable and unsackable judiciary who operate in complete secrecy. Such a system is an affront to a progressive, modern democracy.
8. The ending of the lie that the courts act in ‘the child’s best interests’ and the introduction of a record-keeping system on the outcomes for children.
9. Reform of child support legislation so that ‘child support’ means emotional and financial support and to ensure benefits are divided equally between both parents.
10. The introduction of a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Parents and the launch of a Public Inquiry into the Family Justice System.

To obtain a copy of…

Men and boys urgently need an equal voice representing their interests. We ask the government to act now to ensure men and boys receive the support they deserve and need.

Source: Our 10 Point Blueprint for Family Law – We Are Fathers4Justice – The Official Campaign Organisation

 

Who Stands Up For Fathers’ Rights | Kids’ Rights and Family Court

It’s remarkable to hear dads rights opponents dismiss the movement as a propaganda machine simply manipulating the facts in an effort to…

WWW.SCOOP.IT

 

Posted by Fathers-4-Justice USA on Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Posted by Fathers-4-Justice USA on Monday, May 21, 2012

Posted by Fathers-4-Justice USA on Monday, May 21, 2012

Posted by Fathers-4-Justice USA on Monday, May 21, 2012

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Fathers 4 Justice ~ Shared Parenting

Why Scottish fathers deserve shared parenting. By Matt O’Connor

Every month, thousands of desperate Scottish dads turn to the courts as they battle for access to their children.

All too often, the court orders they secure are broken with impunity by mothers, who face little or no court sanction. As a result, around 50% of all court orders for contact between children and their fathers in the UK are broken.

As the recent Rebecca Minnock case demonstrated, a mother can make false allegations, break court orders, abduct a child and incredibly, still face no punishment.

That’s why it was absolutely the right decision by Sheriff Fiona Tait to send former Apprentice contestant Sharon McAllister to prison for repeatedly failing to hand her son over for contact with his father.

Remarkably, in another case in Scotland this week, a mother and grandmother were jailed and given community service respectively, for attempting to pervert the course of justice by making false allegations against dad Paul Innes. He was cuffed by Police in front of his 8-year-old daughter before charges were dropped.

Men talk about parenting.

American Fathers Liberation: A growing posse of men

Men Begin Re-Establishing The Meaning Of Fatherhood

As culture continues to make fun of men and fathers, a growing posse of men are beginning to set higher expectations for themselves.

MARCH 4, 2016 By Melissa Langsam Braunstein

In a culture that has moved beyond “Father Knows Best” and grown weary of Homer Simpson, what does it mean to be a dad? That question is especially salient in a nation where economic and cultural changes have reduced the likelihood that a man is his family’s breadwinner or even living with his children. In the interest of learning more about contemporary fatherhood from the inside, this mother recently dropped by the Dad 2.0 Summit.

Now in its fifth year, Dad 2.0 is the conference where dads meet parenting-related activists, marketers, and the media. Dad 2.016, as they called it, attracted a varied and interesting crowd, with a female minority and a boatload of bearded men.

In all, 450 participants descended on Washington DC to discuss issues of concern to men, both as fathers and as influencers — whether as published writers, filmmakers, or social media stars. They engaged in important, practical discussions about improving video quality and properly tailoring blog content to your audience, but what captivated me was the fatherhood component.

Men’s Singular Approach to Life

As I’ve written before, I enjoy listening to men discuss parenting. Not only does it warm the heart to hear men talk lovingly about their families, but the conversations tend to be much mellower than those women have about motherhood. Perhaps the most fascinating part, from my point of view, is just how differently men talk about parenting (and other things).

Only 7 percent of men can relate to media portrayals of men.

 

American society has so many negative cultural stereotypes of men, especially as useless, overgrown children. Yet the men I encountered at Dad 2.0 proved how mythical those negative stereotypes are. In an interview, Jen Bremner, brand manager for conference sponsor Dove Men+Care, noted that only 7 percent of men can relate to media portrayals of men. Ninety-two percent of men say it’s their emotional strength that defines them as men.

During one session I sat in on called “Mastering the Moving Image,” the all-dad panel shared helpful hints on improving videos across online platforms, while good-naturedly ribbing one another. I liked one panelist urging an audience member to both fail often and fail in ways unique to him. That struck me as good life advice, but something I couldn’t imagine hearing from a fellow mother in a similar context.

Emotional openness, awareness, and strength were certainly on display all around me. On stage, author Brad Meltzer delivered an opening keynote urging the audience to consider our legacy — to both family and community — and how we want to be remembered after we’re gone. Drag racer Doug Herbert spoke about losing his two sons in a car accident, and how that inspired him to found a special defensive driving school for teenagers.

Elevating Expectations for Men

Out in the audience, I met a life coach who specializes in helping fathers resolve their own work-life balance challenges. Another attendee co-founded a nationwide group to help dads get out and socialize together. A third dad, who stays home raising his young children, asked a former stay-at-home mom moderating a social media session for advice about transitioning back to full-time office work. After a presentation about how biased family courts are against fathers, I watched one man tear up while talking to the speaker, because her remarks had clearly hit a nerve.

‘The Dad 2.0 mission has sought to elevate the conversation and the expectations for men, in a way that benefits the whole family.’

 

These men were reflective. They clearly relished the role of father, and they took it seriously, albeit with a sizable helping of good-natured humor.

For the summit’s founders, that’s precisely the point. In an interview, Summit co-founder John Pacini commented, “We’ve recognized that the bar for fatherhood has been set unreasonably low for so long, while at the same time the bar has been set unreasonably high for women and moms. The Dad 2.0 mission has sought to elevate the conversation and the expectations for men, in a way that benefits the whole family.”

 

That they’ve done. The dads at this conference do more than just show up. They’ve clearly also given significant thought to what it means to be a dad, how to support their spouses, and how to best raise the next generation. They’re redefining fatherhood for the modern era, or in Pacini’s words, demonstrating “masculinity at its best.”

 

It’s a model that would likely look familiar to Baltimore’s Joe Jones orMemphis’ MeiAngelo Taylor. Both men started fatherhood training programs to help men in their communities who wanted to be involved with their kids but weren’t entirely sure how. As MeiAngelo told me in an interview in 2014, men can provide for their children in many ways, “not only financially, but also spiritually and emotionally.”

The dads at Dad 2.0 would undoubtedly agree. In 2016, this is fatherhood.

Photo Andrey Ershov / Shutterstock

Melissa Langsam Braunstein, a former U.S. Department of State speechwriter, is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.

Dad 2.0 Summit Dads Dads 2.0 fatherhood fathers masculinitymen parenting

I enjoy listening to men discuss parenting. Not only does it warm the heart to hear men talk lovingly about their families, but the conversations tend to be much mellower than those women have about motherhood. Perhaps the most fascinating part, from my point of view, is just how differently men talk about parenting (and other things).

Source: American Fathers Liberation: A growing posse of men

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Infant bonding is not just a maternal issue

 

The Birthright – Relating To Men

A very good friend and well-known advocate of the men’s rights movement recently dropped a video clip into my inbox and simply said, “watch this”. I knew it was important and he had my full attention.

It took only a minute for me to be tuned out from the world and into ‘Laugh After Pokes’, a rap song about Paternity Fraud. Not something you see or hear every day and so I was intrigued. It was immediately apparent that this was one man’s way of sharing his story in a frame that was tragic and yet a clearly cathartic outlet for sharing his creative love with his personal crusade to find out the paternal identity of a child. A child he was told could be his.

◊♦◊

I spoke with Dan Scott (Rapper turned Vlogger) to find out the full story and what circumstances led him to being denied confirmation if he was the paternal father of a child that he had not yet met. A baby girl, he believes to be born on or around 01/12/15.

This is not like any other story I have heard.

There can be little denial that if you have sex, there is a likelihood of conception. It’s a known risk that we mitigate with various forms of contraception and usually a level of trust that at least one of you is doing the right thing. Trust is usually where it goes pear shaped.

When we enter into a relationship and spend time with someone intimately we naturally develop a trust, often irrespective of our past history with others. This is the way it should be. We learn trust very early in our development (between 0-2 years) and at the same time we are developing bonds and attachments, all driven by Oxytocin, the hormone of love secreted to the brain. As nature would have it, we generate this same hormone after sex. We are after all, sexual beings.

When Dan entered into his relationship he naturally developed a level of trust. It wasn’t an ideal relationship, but there was love and attachment.

◊♦◊

On an occasion after having sex his girlfriend made a comment that threw him completely – “did you release your little soldiers? “ and Dan was instantly suspicious. “Was she trying to conceive?” But there was another nagging question spinning in his head. Was she already pregnant and trying to deflect responsibility to him for being the father. At the time, he wasn’t sure why he questioned that, Sometimes it’s hard to know how gut instinct drives our thoughts, but it’s alarms are always strong.