[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 125 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 125

   Encouraging and promoting greater involvement of fathers in their 
children's lives and designating June 20, 1999, as ``National Father's 
                             Return Day''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 18, 1999

  Mr. Lieberman (for himself, Mr. Gregg, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Brownback, Mr. 
 Mack, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Allard, Mr. Cochran, 
   Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Robb, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Daschle, Mr. 
  Akaka, Mr. Gorton, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Bennett, Mr. 
 Hutchinson, Mr. Sessions, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Campbell, and Mr. Thurmond 
 submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Encouraging and promoting greater involvement of fathers in their 
children's lives and designating June 20, 1999, as ``National Father's 
                             Return Day''.

Whereas more than 1 out of every 3 children currently live in a household where 
        the child's father does not reside;
Whereas approximately half of all the children born in the United States will 
        spend at least half of their childhood in a family without a father 
        figure;
Whereas approximately 40 to 50 percent of all marriages are predicted to end in 
        divorce;
Whereas approximately 3 out of every 5 divorcing couples have at least 1 child;
Whereas almost half of all children aged 11 through 16 that live in mother-
        headed homes have not seen their father in the last 12 months;
Whereas 79 percent of people in the United States believe that the most 
        significant family or social problem facing the country is the physical 
        absence of fathers from the home, resulting in a lack of involvement of 
        fathers in the rearing and development of children;
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 comprised largely of single-parent families;
Whereas studies reveal that even in high-crime, inner city neighborhoods, over 
        90 percent of children from safe, stable, 2-parent homes do not become 
        delinquents;
Whereas compared to children reared in 2-parent families, children reared in 
        single-parent families are less likely to complete high school and thus, 
        more likely as adults to obtain low paying, unstable jobs;
Whereas researchers have linked the presence of fathers with improved fetal and 
        infant development, and father-child interaction has been shown to 
        promote a child's physical well-being, perceptual abilities, and 
        competency for interpersonal relations;
Whereas researchers have also found that both boys and girls demonstrate a 
        greater ability to take initiative and exercise self-control when they 
        are reared by fathers who are actively involved in their upbringing;
Whereas the general involvement of parents in the lives of their children has 
        decreased significantly over the last generation;
Whereas a Gallup Poll indicated that over 50 percent of all adults agree that 
        fathers today spend less time with their children than their fathers 
        spent with them;
Whereas nearly 20 percent of children in grades 6 through 12 report that they 
        have not had a meaningful conversation with even 1 parent in over a 
        month;
Whereas in a broad survey of 100,000 children in grades 6 through 12, less than 
        half of the children ``feel they have family boundaries or high 
        expectations from parents or teachers'';
Whereas 3 out of 4 adolescents report that ``they do not have adults in their 
        lives that model positive behaviors'';
Whereas in a widely cited study of the health risks to the young people in the 
        United States, University of Minnesota researchers found that 
        ``independent of race, ethnicity, family structure and poverty status, 
        adolescents who are connected to their parents, their schools, and to 
        their school community are healthier than those who are not'', and that 
        ``when teens feel connected to their families, and when parents are 
        involved in their children's lives, teens are protected'';
Whereas millions of single mothers in the United States are heroically 
        struggling to raise their children in safe and loving environments;
Whereas promoting responsible fatherhood is not meant to diminish the parenting 
        efforts of single mothers, but rather to increase the chances that 
        children will have 2 caring parents to help them grow up healthy and 
        secure;
Whereas many of this country's leading experts on family and child development 
        agree that it is in the best interest of both children and the United 
        States to encourage more 2-parent, father-involved families to form and 
        endure;
Whereas in 1994, the National Fatherhood Initiative was formed to further the 
        goal of raising societal awareness about the ramifications of father 
        absence and father disengagement by mobilizing a national response to 
        father absence;
Whereas the Congressional Task Force on Fatherhood Promotion and the Senate Task 
        Force on Fatherhood Promotion that were formed in 1997, the Governors' 
        Task Force on Fatherhood Promotion of 1998, and the Mayor's Task Force 
        on Fatherhood Promotion of 1999 were created to work in partnership with 
        the National Fatherhood Initiative;
Whereas on June 14, 1999, the National Fatherhood Initiative is holding a 
        national summit on supporting urban fathers in Washington, D.C., to 
        mobilize a response to father absence by many powerful sectors of 
        society, including public policy, social services, educational, 
        religious, entertainment, media, and civic groups; and
Whereas those groups are working across party, ideological, racial, and gender 
        lines in order to reverse the trend of father absence and disengagement 
        by encouraging and supporting responsible fatherhood and greater father 
        involvement in children's lives: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes that the creation of a better United States 
        requires the active involvement of fathers in the rearing and 
        development of their children;
            (2) urges each father in the United States to accept his 
        full share of responsibility for the lives of his children, to 
        be actively involved in rearing his children, and to encourage 
        the emotional, academic, moral, and spiritual development of 
        his children;
            (3) urges the States to hold fathers who ignore their legal 
        responsibilities accountable for their actions and to pursue 
        more aggressive enforcement of child support obligations;
            (4) encourages each father to devote time, energy, and 
        resources to his children, recognizing that children need not 
        only material support, but also, more importantly, a secure, 
        affectionate, family environment;
            (5) 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 do want 
        to become more engaged in the lives of their children;
            (6) to demonstrate the commitment of the Senate to those 
        critically important goals, designates June 20, 1999, as 
        ``National Father's Return Day'';
            (7) calls on fathers around the country to use the day to 
        reconnect and rededicate themselves to their children's lives, 
        to spend National Father's Return Day with their children, and 
        to express their love and support for them; and
            (8) requests that the President issue a proclamation 
        calling on the people of the United States to observe 
        ``National Father's Return Day'' with appropriate ceremonies 
        and activities.
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