Reducing Unwed Childbearing: The Missing Link in Efforts to Promote Marriage

August 17, 2006 15:36

Reducing Unwed Childbearing: The Missing Link in Efforts to Promote Marriage (PDF; 90 KB)
Source: The Brookings Institution, Center on Children and Families
"The reasons for the current retreat from marriage are complex. There is no silver bullet that will reverse these trends quickly. Reducing out-of-wedlock childbearing alone will not restore marriage rates or reduce divorce rates to levels observed in the 1950s. At the same time, the evidence is clear that out-of-wedlock childbearing — among both single persons and cohabiting couples — is a primary reason for the lack of family stability in children’s lives and therefore deserves the nation’s full attention. The new funding for marriage and responsible fatherhood programs offers the potential to learn more about how to strengthen marriage for parents who already have children. However, we should not put all our eggs in this basket. Federal, state, and community officials should seize the opportunity presented by this new funding to intervene earlier by educating teens about healthy relationships and marriage before they have children. It is also imperative to make postponing early, unwed childbearing a priority — particularly among teens, where we have strong evidence of success. Otherwise, these efforts to 'fix' relationships may be too little and too late."

Category:

• Children and families
• Social and cultural issues