Should Government Promote Healthy Marriages?

Unmarried parenthood and child poverty are closely linked. According to census figures for , almost one in three poor families with children is not headed by a married couple. Unmarried couples make up an even higher share of the chronically poor. These economic disadvantages often hurt children’s academic performance and limit their long-term economic well-being. Recognizing the link between family structures and poverty, policymakers have consistently built family-related provisions into welfare legislation. For example, the reforms funded teen pregnancy prevention initiatives, strengthened paternity establishment procedures, bolstered child-support enforcement, expanded welfare benefits for two-parent families, and provided single parents with child care. Recently, the Bush administration and some congressional members have proposed a more direct intervention—using public funds to promote healthy marriages. If the Bush-sponsored initiative succeeds, federal and state governments could spend more than $ million a year for five years on marriage education, training, mentoring, and public advertising, as well as on reducing financial disincentives to marry. An additional $ million per year would fund research and demonstration projects promoting healthy marriages. Deploying government funds to encourage marriage has sparked heated debate. According to proponents, informing people of marriage’s long-term benefits, encouraging them to marry, and providing relationship tools will reduce poverty and family instability. According to critics, marriage promotion oversteps government’s bounds, could divert TANF funds to nonwelfare programs, and detracts attention from a more press-ing problem—early childbearing. Critics also question whether poor women will see economic gains and whether policy-induced marriages might increase domestic violence among financially strapped couples