The Problem

The Administration for Children and Family reported that the federal government spent $30 billion in 2019 in welfare costs for fragmented families. The burden to taxpayers is significant and growing. Divorce is the root cause of child poverty and a host of related social problems, first among which is the failure of families to form. If we worked from preventative mindset the benefits would go far beyond lightening the tax burden.  Divorce reduces a person’s wealth by about three-quarters, or 77 percent, compared to that of a single person, while being married almost doubles comparative wealth, or increases it by 93 percent, the Ohio State study found.

Families constitute the first school of character, teaching the meaning of love and the necessity of forgiveness, while developing a child’s capacity for empathy, trust and generosity. Children learn boundaries and discipline, as well as restraint, as they practice human interaction. The family is also the first place where faith is lived and taught, providing the foundation of beliefs that will guide a child through life. There is no other institution that can replace this formation adequately.

The traditional family is the cradle of civilization, the first cell in the organism of human society. It is the most basic building block of communities, neighborhoods and the myriad ways that people affiliate with each other. This voluntary interaction is known as civil society, the realm of free association where families and friends share activities, churches, and associations, interacting to socialize and find solutions to local problems. It is where personal virtue is practiced and civic muscle is exercised. Civil society is highly relational, and closely tied to the health of families. But intact families and civil society are both currently in decline.

Civil society is distinct from the other two major sectors of society, government and the economy, counterbalancing them in important ways. The government cannot mandate character, but it depends on orderly citizens who seek to serve the common good. Likewise, the market depends on trust and honesty to function well, but is incapable of fostering these traits. Families can foster the kind of character and the necessary trust that free institutions of democracy and a market economy need to remain responsible and humane. The family is the essential building block in civil society, where the moral capacity of the person is honed. Without virtue, free governments and free markets cannot function well.

Finally, marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman with God.  He has give us each other to create a family and the family is the domestic church, the first source of formation for souls. The family is a mirror of the love God offers us, which shines into a broken world through the love of the people He has created. Strengthening marriages and families has transcendent and eternal merit.

• Half of all new marriages are failing.

• America's divorce rate is double that of many European countries.

• Divorced, un-remarried people soared from 4 million in 1970 to 17 million in 1994.

• The marriage rate has fallen 41% since 1960.

• The cohabitation rate has soared seven-fold since 1970.

• Only 55% of American adults are married -- the lowest percentage ever.

• One million children see their parents’ divorce annually.

• Divorced people live shorter lives.

• 52% of those on welfare were married, or still are and separated.

• Divorces tripled from 1960 to 1980.