[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 23 (Monday, June 11, 2001)]
[Pages 859-862]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Fourth National Summit on Fatherhood

June 7, 2001

    Thank you all very much for that warm welcome. It's an honor to be 
introduced by Tommy Thompson, who not only was an outstanding Governor 
but, I can assure you, is going to be an outstanding Secretary of Health 
and Human Services. He is bright, capable, smart, and does everything 
the President tells him. [Laughter] He's my buddy. But thank you, Tommy, 
very much.
    I am so honored Members of the United States Congress are here. I 
appreciate you all being here, Senator Carper, Senator Bayh, Congressman 
J.C. Watts. If there are other Members of the Congress here, thank you 
all for coming, as well. Roland Warren, it's good to meet you, sir. I 
appreciate your focus and effort. I've got something to say about the 
other two characters up here in a minute. [Laughter]
    For 7 years, the National Fatherhood Initiative has been a powerful 
voice for responsible fatherhood. And for those of you involved, on 
behalf of our Nation, I say thanks from the bottom of our collective 
hearts. You have generated grassroots support and important national 
awareness. You've encouraged public officials like me to think and act 
on this incredibly important issue.
    I worked with many of you on the Texas Fatherhood Initiative. We 
created a statewide public awareness campaign, mobilized community and 
corporate leadership, established a Texas Fatherhood Resource Center, 
and lent support to grassroots organizations all across our great State.
    Promoting fatherhood was a commitment I made as Governor; it's a 
commitment I make as President; and it's a commitment I have made every 
day since our little girls were born in Dallas, Texas.
    Two people who have been a central part of the National Fatherhood 
Initiative are now a valuable part of my administration, the Deputy 
Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Don 
Eberly, and the Acting Assistant Secretary of Health and Human 
Services--and, we hope, a man confirmed soon--Wade Horn. [Applause] I 
was pleased to see Senator Carper leading the applause. [Laughter] Thank 
you, guys, for your service, and thank you for your willingness to work 
on behalf of the American people.
    The intellectual roots of the fatherhood movement reach back to one 
exceptional public servant who spoke about the importance of fathers 
earlier, more often, and more eloquently than any other public figure, 
former United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York. Now, 
the fatherhood movement counts amongst its supporters a variety of 
public officials: Republicans Tom Ridge and Secretary of State Colin 
Powell; great Democrats, like Al Gore and Joe Lieberman.
    Most States now have initiatives that promote responsible 
fatherhood, and more than

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50 mayors are involved in the National Fatherhood Initiative's 
bipartisan Mayors' Task Force on Fatherhood Promotion. The fatherhood 
movement is diverse, but it is united by one belief: Fathers have a 
unique and irreplaceable role in the lives of children.
    For our children and for our Nation, nothing is more important than 
this initiative. Nearly every man who has a child wants to be a good 
father; I truly believe that. It's a natural longing of the human heart 
to care for and cherish your child, but this longing must find concrete 
expression.
    Raising a child requires sacrifice, effort, time, and presence. And 
there is a wide gap between our best intentions and the reality of 
today's society. More than one-third of American children are living 
apart from their biological fathers. Of these, five out of six do not 
see their fathers more than once a week. And 40 percent of the children 
who live in fatherless households have not seen their fathers in at 
least a year.
    Some fathers are forced away by circumstances beyond their control, 
but many times when a couple with children splits up, the father moves 
away or simply drifts away.
    We know that children who grow up with absent fathers can suffer 
lasting damage. They are more likely to end up in poverty or drop out of 
school, become addicted to drugs, have a child out of wedlock, or end up 
in prison. Fatherlessness is not the only cause of these things, but our 
Nation must recognize it is an important factor.
    There is a familiar litany that behind every statistic is a child, 
and a compassionate society can never forget the large place a father 
occupies in that child's life. Children look to their fathers to 
provide, even imperfectly, and nurture protection, provide discipline 
and care, guidance, and most importantly, unconditional love. Fathers 
are the object of a young child's admiration. They provide their sons 
and daughters with an example of what it means to be a good man. And 
many of us believe a father's love, like a mother's love, even 
imperfectly, mirrors divine love.
    The absence of a father can shatter a child's world. One 14-year-old 
girl put it this way: ``My father left me when I learned to say `daddy.' 
Even though my father is not around, in my heart he's always there. 
Every birthday, every Christmas, I cross my fingers in hopes that my 
father will come home. Does my wish come true? No. But I never quit 
looking and hoping.''
    When children quit looking and stop hoping, something terrible 
happened to them and to us. Over the past four decades, fatherlessness 
has emerged as one of our greatest social problems. Yet, during this 
period, we've also made some important social progress. Today, marriages 
is often a more equal partnership. Many fathers are more emotionally 
involved in the lives of their children. And our society now recognizes 
domestic violence for the violent crime it is. These trends are welcome 
and noble and overdue.
    Many families with one parent do well. Single mothers do amazing 
work in difficult circumstances, succeeding at a job far harder than 
most of us can possibly imagine. They deserve our respect, and they 
deserve our support. And millions of children have strong, loving 
relationships with their non-resident dads. But on the whole, we must 
never forget children need their dads, and when they're absent, 
something is lost.
    Fatherlessness has public consequences; so public officials have a 
role to play. My budget, for example, provides $64 million in 2002 and 
$315 million over 5 years for programs designed to strengthen 
fatherhood. We have proposed increased funding for promoting safe and 
stable families program and are taking steps to help make adoption more 
affordable.
    And we have tried to set an example by creating an atmosphere 
favorable to families in the White House, in the workplace, as should 
all of us who have responsibility for employees. Democratic Senator Evan 
Bayh has taken the lead on fatherhood legislation in the last Congress, 
and will do so again this year. And he deserves our gratitude.
    I look forward to working with him and Senator Domenici, as well as 
other key supporters of fatherhood legislation, like Nancy Johnson, to 
secure passage this year of a bill that provides financial support to 
community based fatherhood programs all across the country.
    I'm asking my Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to 
develop resource materials to guide urban congregations and

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other community groups in finding role models for young men who have 
been raised without fathers. And we will be working with the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy to enlist dads in our national campaign 
against drug use.
    We have a responsibility to help children who have been born into 
harsh circumstances and fractured families. As a society, we must work 
to promote mentors--committed, caring adults in the lives of children. I 
always like to say, I wish I knew the law that I could sign that would 
cause people to love one another. I'm confident these Senators, and I 
know this Member of the House, would sponsor it. I can assure you the 
President would sign it.
    But governments can't cause people to love one another. Love comes 
from the hearts and souls of citizens who want to help. And we must 
gather up the great compassion of our society, to encourage loving 
citizens to put their arm around a child who may not have a dad and say, 
``Somebody in this country loves you, and somebody cares for you.''
    There's no substitute for a dad. I recognize that. But there's sure 
a lot of hope when a child has a mentor. Just look at the record of Big 
Brothers and Big Sisters in America. They've had an incredible positive 
effect on the lives of children. Children who meet with a Big Brother 
and Big Sister regularly for a year are 46 percent less likely than 
their peers to start using illegal drugs and 32 percent less likely to 
assault somebody. They are less likely to skip school, and more likely 
to realize a dream.
    Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America is an amazing story. And I 
want you all to hear this. There are estimates that more than 14 million 
children in this country could benefit from having a mentor. To begin 
addressing the need, my budget proposes a $67 million initiative to 
mentor children whose parents are incarcerated. Our law should encourage 
responsible fatherhood; when children are abandoned, our society should 
encourage mentoring.
    But ultimately, fatherhood is a deeply personal calling. Our own 
children are given to our care, and they depend on our love. Every 
parent knows that raising a child is among the most affirming 
experiences a human being will ever know. So many of my generation had 
the same--had this experience. When we held our children for the first 
time, we really found ourselves. We found a world of duty and love that 
changed our lives. And since that day--since that day, ``dad'' has been 
the most important title I have ever had. [Applause] Thank you very 
much. Thank you.
    Children need a father's love and attention. And they also need a 
loving family. To paraphrase my friend Josh McDowell, a child's greatest 
source of security today is not only knowing my mom loves me and my dad 
loves me, but also that mom and dad love each other.
    If we are serious about renewing fatherhood, we must be serious 
about renewing marriage. Ultimately, this, too, is a deeply personal 
calling. Renewing marriage depends on renewing the inward things of the 
heart, mutual respect and cooperation, support and affirmation, love and 
devotion.
    Healthy marriages are not always possible. But we must remember, 
they are incredibly important for children. Our hearts know this, and 
our Nation must recognize this. ``What greater thing is there for two 
human souls,'' George Eliot wrote, ``than to feel that they are joined 
for life to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in 
all sorrow, to be one with each other in silent, unspeakable memories at 
the moment of the last parting.''
    None of us is perfect. And so no marriage and no family is perfect. 
After all, we all are human. Yet, we need fathers and families precisely 
because we are human. We all live, it is said, in the shelter of one 
another. And our urgent hope is that one of the oldest hopes of humanity 
is this, to turn the hearts of children toward their parents and the 
hearts of parents toward their young. This is the hope of the Fatherhood 
Initiative. And because of your hard work, America will be a better 
place.
    God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 1:15 p.m. in the Ticonderoga Room at the 
Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. In his remarks, he referred

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to Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania; Deputy Director of the Office of 
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Don Eberly, chairman and founder, 
Acting Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Wade F. Horn, 
president, and Roland Warren, executive vice president, National 
Fatherhood Initiative; Josh McDowell, founder, Josh McDowell Ministries; 
and former Vice President Al Gore.