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 resolu-
tion; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Work-
force
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 suc-
cessful 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 rela-
tionship 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 up-
bringing;
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 father-
hood 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 fa-
ther from the home and the resulting lack of involvement
of fathers in the rearing and development of their chil-
dren;
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 fa-
therless 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 ap-
proximately 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 fa-
ther 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 con-
centration of single-parent families;
Whereas a study of juveniles in state reform institutions
found that 70 percent grew up in single or no parent sit-
uations;
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 per-
cent of all fathers and 55 percent of all mothers feel
guilty about not spending enough time with their chil-
dren;
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Whereas almost 20 percent of 6th through 12th graders re-
port 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 contrib-
utes 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 Pro-
motion and the Senate Task Force on Fatherhood Pro-
motion were both formed in 1997, and the Governors Fa-
therhood Task Force was formed in February 1998, and
the Mayors Task Force was formed in June 1999;
Whereas a growing number of community-based organiza-
tions are implementing outreach support and skills build-
ing programs for fathers;
Whereas a disproportionate amount of Federal dollars are
spent on crime, a social symptom, as compared to ad-
dressing the principal underlying cause of crime: an in-
creasing absence of fathers from the home;
Whereas the Congressional Task Force on Fatherhood Pro-
motion 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 ab-
sence 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
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) recognizes that the creation of a better
America depends in large part on the active involve-
ment of fathers in the rearing and development of
their children;
(2) urges each father in America to accept his
full share of responsibility for the lives of his chil-
dren, to be actively involved in rearing his children,
and to encourage the academic, moral, and spiritual
development of his children;
(3) urges governments and institutions at every
level to remove barriers to father involvement and
enact public policies that encourage and support the
efforts of fathers who want to become more engaged
in the lives of their children;
(4) encourages each father to devote time, en-
ergy, and resources to his children, recognizing that
children need not only material support, but more
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importantly a secure, nurturing, family environment;
and
(5) expresses its support for the National Fa-
therhood Initiative, and its work to inspire and
equip fathers to be positively involved in the raising
and development of their children.
Æ