Mandate that surplus welfare funds be used to strengthen marriages and slow the increase in family disintegration. Rebuild the federal-state system for gathering statistics on marriage and divorce , which ended in 1993. Without such data, the nation cannot assess the true impact of divorce on the family, the schools, the community, and the taxpayer. Create a public health campaign to inform Americans of the risks associated with divorce and of the long-term benefits of marriage. This small reward for committing one's marriage to nurturing the next generation into adulthood would help to offset the current marriage penalty in the tax code.
State laws govern marriage.
Require married couples with minor children to complete divorce education and a mediated co-partnering plan before filing for divorce. Make the Covenant Marriage option available to engaged couples as a way to bind them to a marriage contract that lengthens the process for obtaining of a divorce by two years. If the family is the building block of society, then marriage is the foundation of the family. However, this foundation is growing weaker, with fewer adults entering into marriage, more adults leaving it in divorce, and more and more adults eschewing it altogether for single parenthood or cohabitation. To set about the task of rebuilding a culture of family based on marriage and providing it with all the protections and supports necessary to make intact marriages commonplace, federal, state, and local officials must have the will to act.