[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 48 (Thursday, April 28, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 THE IMPORTANCE OF TWO-PARENT FAMILIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Long). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Ms. Speaker, as we discuss welfare reform, we will talk 
about and emphasize the importance of values and the behavior of 
families receiving welfare assistance. However, we also need to 
emphasize how important strong families are to our society, be they 
poor, middle class, or rich.
  Two-parent families are the ideal both for economic and for 
psychological reasons. First, a two-parent family is best adapted to 
provide for children. Our Nation's economy is such that in most 
families today, both parents are needed to work outside the home in 
order to make ends meets. A single-parent family, in today's economy, 
is at a decided disadvantage, even if that parent is not poor.
  A two-parent family is also ideal for psychological reasons. Our 
children need the love and support of both their mother and father and 
to see them as positive role models to nurture and help develop them 
into mature, well-adjusted, contributing adults. The rise of crime on 
our streets today is proof that our families, are failing our children.
  However, in many instances two-parent families are impossible, 
therefore efforts must be made to encourage strong, stable families 
even if there is one parent.
  During the debate on welfare reform, we must be careful not to single 
out poor families as the demons or scapegoats on the whipping block of 
family values. A lack of values or the deterioration of families are 
evident in all sectors of American society, be they poor, middle class, 
or rich. Therefore, we should not pretend during these coming debates 
on welfare reform that only poor families suffer from a lack of values.
  The challenge for us will be to encourage strong healthy families as 
a national priority and empower parents on welfare to become self-
sufficient and responsible.
  A significant number of the families receiving welfare turn to 
government assistance programs as a last resort after a divorce, 
separation, loss of job, or the birth of a child to a single parent. 
These factors that lead a woman to get assistance from welfare, I can 
assure you, are not problems only that apply to poor women.
  Regrettably, our current welfare system has not served families well. 
Often it has created greater dependency. Once on welfare, the average 
family will receive a monthly payment of $381 from the Aid to Families 
With Dependent Children Program. Statistics show that marriage is the 
most likely route out of welfare. Securing a better paying job is 
second. There are barriers in the current system which discourage 
marriage and opportunity to work.
  I ask that my colleagues remember why the Aid to Families with 
Dependent Children Program was created--to support children in poor 
families. Let us not lose sight of the need to continue our support for 
poor children. We must not hold the children hostage to the contentious 
welfare reform arguments.
  Rather, we must agree that our reforms must move families to self-
sufficiency and responsibility so they can better care for their 
children. Many of our poor families are struggling against all odds to 
meet the needs of their children. The question is how best to achieve 
this goal of self-sufficiency and responsibility. We need to offer a 
helping hand to those families to help them get the training and 
education they need to secure decent jobs.
  Consistent with the need to create a better family environment, we 
need to be very sensitive about what we emphasize young mothers--
especially teenagers--on welfare to undertake. First, if we are 
expecting them to receive education and training for jobs, then we must 
express to them the importance of their role as a mother, by also 
assisting them in securing child care for their children.
  We should stress the importance of the mother's presence in the home 
and make allowances for young single mothers to have their first 
priority be their child--and allow them to participate in jobs and 
training programs on a part-time basis.
  We must also recognize that many young mothers need more than just 
financial assistance. They need moral support and in many cases 
parenting training to prepare them for their role as a mother. Teenage 
parents--mother and father--must be taught to be responsible for their 
children.
  Again, I want to emphasize the importance of strong families to our 
social fiber. And in this vein, I want to urge my colleagues to work 
with me to tear down the impediments to two-parent families that are 
inherent in the current welfare system and work to make the system 
supportive of our poor families and children.
  Finally, and simply stated, family values mean providing for a 
positive family environment where children can mature into productive 
individuals within the proper family setting. We need to enact public 
policy which encourages self-development of families by enabling more 
families to work and escape the persistent poverty by their own 
creative work efforts.

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