IV

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 522

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the

importance of responsible fatherhood.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 9, 2000

Mr. PITTS (for himself Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. TURNER, Mr. ROGAN, Mr.

HASTERT, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BONIOR, Mr.

WATTS, of Oklahoma, and Mr. SOUDER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives

regarding the importance of responsible fatherhood.

Whereas studies reveal that even in high-crime, inner-city

neighborhoods, well over 90 percent of children from safe,

stable, two-parent homes do not become delinquents;

Whereas in 1998, 1.2 million babies, or 33 percent of all

newborns, were born out of wedlock;

Whereas children with fathers at home tend to do better in

school, are less prone to depression, and have more successful relationships;

Whereas premature infants whose fathers spend ample time

playing with them have better cognitive outcomes and
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children who have higher-than-average self-esteem and

lower-than-average depression report having a close relationship with their father;

Whereas both boys and girls demonstrate a greater ability to

take initiative and evidence self-control when they are

reared with fathers who are actively involved in their upbringing;

Whereas although mothers often work tremendously hard to

rear their children in a nurturing environment, a mother

can benefit from the positive support of a father for her

children;

Whereas it is recognized that to promote responsible fatherhood is in no way meant to denigrate the standing or

parenting of single mothers, but rather to increase the

chances that children will have two caring parents to help

them grow up healthy and secure;

Whereas a broad array of America’s leading family and child

development experts agree that it is in the best interests

of children and the nation as a whole to encourage more

two-parent, father involved families;

Whereas, according to a 1996 Gallup Poll, 79.1 percent of

Americans believe the most significant family or social

problem facing America is the physical absence of the father from the home and the resulting lack of involvement

of fathers in the rearing and development of their children;

Whereas, according to the Bureau of the Census, in 1996,

16,993,000 children in the United States (one-fourth of

all children in the United States) lived in families in

which a father was absent;
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Whereas, according to a 1996 Gallup Poll, 90.9 percent of

Americans believe ‘‘it is important for children to live in

a home with both their mother and their father’’;

Whereas it is estimated that half of all United States children

born today will spend at least half their childhood in a

family in which a father figure is absent;

Whereas the United States is now the world’s leader in fatherless families, according to the United States Bureau

of the Census;

Whereas estimates of the likelihood that marriages will end

in divorce range from 40 percent to 50 percent, and approximately 3 out of every 5 divorcing couples have at

least one child;

Whereas almost half of all 11- through 16-year-old children

who live in mother-headed homes have not seen their father in the last 12 months;

Whereas the likelihood that a young male will engage in

criminal activity doubles if he is reared without a father

and triples if he lives in a neighborhood with a high concentration of single-parent families;

Whereas a study of juveniles in state reform institutions

found that 70 percent grew up in single or no parent situations;

Whereas children of single-parents are less likely to complete

high school and more likely to have low earnings and low

employment stability as adults than children reared in

two-parent families;

Whereas a 1990 Los Angeles Times poll found that 57 percent of all fathers and 55 percent of all mothers feel

guilty about not spending enough time with their children;
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Whereas almost 20 percent of 6th through 12th graders report that they have not had a good conversation lasting

for at least 10 minutes with at least one of their parents

in more than a month;

Whereas, according to a Gallup poll, over 50 percent of all

adults agreed that fathers today spend less time with

their children than their fathers spent with them;

Whereas President Clinton has stated that ‘‘the single biggest

social problem in our society may be the growing absence

of fathers from their children’s homes because it contributes to so many other social problems’’ and that ‘‘the real

source of the [welfare] problem is the inordinate number

of out of wedlock births in this country’’;

Whereas the Congressional Task Force on Fatherhood Promotion and the Senate Task Force on Fatherhood Promotion were both formed in 1997, and the Governors Fatherhood Task Force was formed in February 1998, and

the Mayors Task Force was formed in June 1999;

Whereas a growing number of community-based organizations are implementing outreach support and skills building programs for fathers;

Whereas a disproportionate amount of Federal dollars are

spent on crime, a social symptom, as compared to addressing the principal underlying cause of crime: an increasing absence of fathers from the home;

Whereas the Congressional Task Force on Fatherhood Promotion is exploring the social changes that are required

to ensure that every child is reared with a father who is

committed to being actively involved in the rearing and

development of his children;
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Whereas the National Fatherhood Initiative holds an annual

National Summit on Fatherhood in Washington, D.C.,

with the purpose of mobilizing a response to father absence in several of the most powerful sectors of society,

including public policy, public and private social services,

education, religion, entertainment, the media, and the

civic community; and

Whereas the promotion of fatherhood is a bipartisan issue:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

2 (1) recognizes that the creation of a better

3 America depends in large part on the active involve4 ment of fathers in the rearing and development of

5 their children;

6 (2) urges each father in America to accept his

7 full share of responsibility for the lives of his chil8 dren, to be actively involved in rearing his children,

9 and to encourage the academic, moral, and spiritual

10 development of his children;

11 (3) urges governments and institutions at every

12 level to remove barriers to father involvement and

13 enact public policies that encourage and support the

14 efforts of fathers who want to become more engaged

15 in the lives of their children;

16 (4) encourages each father to devote time, en17 ergy, and resources to his children, recognizing that

18 children need not only material support, but more
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1 importantly a secure, nurturing, family environment;

2 and

3 (5) expresses its support for the National Fa4 therhood Initiative, and its work to inspire and

5 equip fathers to be positively involved in the raising

6 and development of their children.

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