IV
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 441
Supporting responsible fatherhood and encouraging greater involvement of
fathers in the lives of their children, especially on Father’s Day.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 11, 2002
Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself, Mr. PITTS, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. TURNER, Mr.
SOUDER, and Mr. RYUN of Kansas) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
RESOLUTION
Supporting responsible fatherhood and encouraging greater
involvement of fathers in the lives of their children, espe-
cially on Father’s Day.
Whereas children with fathers at home tend to do better in
school, to be less prone to depression, and to have more
successful relationships;
Whereas boys and girls alike demonstrate greater self-control
and ability to take initiative when fathers are actively in-
volved in their upbringing;
Whereas promoting responsible fatherhood can help increase
the chances that children will grow up with two caring
parents;
Whereas a broad array of America’s leading family and child-
development experts agree that it is in the best interests
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of children, and the Nation as a whole, to encourage
more two-parent, father-involved families;
Whereas in a study of fathers’ interaction with their children
in intact two-parent families, nearly 90 percent of the fa-
thers surveyed said that being a father is the most ful-
filling role a man can have;
Whereas according to a 1996 Gallup poll, 90.3 percent of
Americans agree that fathers make a unique contribution
to their children’s lives;
Whereas a study of first-grade boys and their married par-
ents found that fathers who participated more in
childcare had sons who were more empathetic than sons
whose fathers did not participate often in childcare;
Whereas married fathers are more likely to have a close, en-
during relationship with their children than unmarried
fathers;
Whereas the promotion of responsible fatherhood is a bipar-
tisan issue; and
Whereas Father’s Day is the third Sunday in June: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) urges men to understand the level of re-
sponsibility fathering a child requires, especially in
the encouragement of the academic, moral, and spir-
itual development of children;
(2) recognizes the need to encourage active in-
volvement of fathers in the rearing and development
of their children;
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(3) encourages each father to devote time, en-
ergy, and resources to his children, recognizing that
children need not only material support, but even
more importantly, a secure and nurturing family en-
vironment;
(4) commends the millions of fathers who serve
as wonderful, caring parents for their children, while
also recognizing that there are children who will
have no one with whom to celebrate on Father’s
Day;
(5) urges mothers to encourage fathers to play
an active role in child-rearing;
(6) calls on fathers across the Nation to use
Father’s Day to reconnect and rededicate themselves
to their children’s lives, to spend Father’s Day with
their children, and to express their love and support
for their children; and
(7) urges American institutions, and govern-
ment entities at every level, to promote public poli-
cies that encourage and support the efforts of, and
remove barriers to, responsible fatherhood.
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