The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

I know that this has been a boring topic for some of you, but we must continue to address this issue if we expect to see a change in our youth. One of the unfortunate trends that I have noticed in this country is the declining concern for other people’s children. The title of this post came from an article written by William Raspberry for the Washington Post. In his article he discusses how the trend of fatherlessness and poverty are directly related. I personally think that he did a good job covering this topic because: A. he does acknowledge the success stories of kids who have grown up in single-parent homes and how they still succeed in life today. B. He makes it clear that the trend of fatherless homes is not exclusive to blacks. C. He tells readers that marriage is not the cure-all for poverty.

As usual I’ll provide an excerpt, but please read the whole thing when you get a chance.

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I first heard the numbers from sociologist Andrew Billingsley:

In 1890, 80 percent of black American households were headed by husbands and wives. That’s just 25 years after the end of the Civil War.

In 1900, the percentage was mostly unchanged, and so it remained — between the high 70s and the low 80s — for 1910, 1920, 1930, for every decennial census report until 1970, when it was down to 64.

For the 2000 Census, the percentage of black families headed by married couples was 38. The only good news is that it was also 38 percent in 1990, suggesting that the trend may have stopped getting worse.

Now consider this: Fatherless families are America’s single largest source of poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s “Kids Count” once reported that Americans who failed to complete high school, to get married and to reach age 20 before having their first child were nearly 10 times as likely to live in poverty as those who did these three things.

Poverty, it goes without saying, is associated with poorer academic outcomes, which, in turn, are associated with poorer job prospects. That means, among other things, reduced ability to choose neighborhoods to bring children up in safety. Non-marriage has consequences.

(continue reading Poverty and the Father Factor)

Here is a link to a report put out by The Institute for the study of Civil Society:

Experiments in Living: The Fatherless Family

When dismal poverty reports are recanted by so-called leaders and activists, the lionshare of the blame is always pushed onto the doorstep of government. By doing this, we have made government the father of our children and the husband of our woman. Government does play a role, but this role pales in comparison to what a father can give to his children and his wife.