Marriage Promotion and Low-Income Communities: An Examination of Real Needs and Real Solutions

One of the most private, personal, and critical decisions one makes in life is if, when, and whom one should marry. It seems the ultimate in big government, if not social engineering, to have public policy anywhere near these critical, life-altering decisions; but this is precisely what some members of Congress and the Bush Administration have in mind, to the tune of $200-300 million per year, in the context of TANF reauthorization. Described in language that articulates the desire to help build only “healthy ” marriages, the proposal may at first, seem reasonable—that is, until the plan’s many inclusions come into full view. For example: why use poverty reduction dollars to fund marriage counseling activities for individuals who may or may not be poor; and why even take the risk of potentially encouraging low-income women to stay in abusive marriages? Ultimately, why not seek to build strong, healthy, and economically-secure families of all types, regardless of marital status, instead of being limited to the Ozzie and Harriet model? To think more broadly in this way is not anti-marriage. To the contrary, it is pro-family in the ultimate sense, in that it respects and supports the many faces of America’s families. Be they single, divorced, widowed, same-sex couples, or involved in cohabitating relationships, low-income families of all types deserve the same care and support that married families do if our ultimate goal is to provide stable, economically secure households within which children can flourish