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I. THE IDEOLOGICAL FAULT LINES

A. The Conservatives

	Conservative ideology upholds the modern nuclear family as the standard for all families. Conservatives are alarmed and appalled by the breakdown of the traditional family, the primary cause of which is the decline of family values. Conservatives find the principal causes of family decline to be cultural and political.
	1. Political Action The conservatives are very well organized. The Christian Right, made up of evangelical Christians, provides the leadership and volunteers for the advancement of the conservative political agenda.

B. The Progressives

	Progressives view family forms as socially and historically constructed. Changes in the quality of employment and the organization of work that have accompanied global economic restructuring have resulted in changes in the way families are configured. The principal causes of family change are structural.
	1. Political Action The progressives are much less organized than the conservatives. The National Organization of Women (NOW) lobbies on behalf of women's rights and other organizations focus on special issues.

II. THE GOVERNMENT AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Issues surrounding family planning are the most volatile of all the policy issues in this

chapter.

A. Contraceptives

The state and federal govenments have long been involved in reproductive matters.

B. Abortion

In Roe v. Wade (1973) the U.S. Supreme Court overturned all state laws against abortion. Around 1.5 million abortions occur each year, ending about 28% of pregnancies. Most states now have laws prohibiting the use of state funds to pay for abortions. The Bush administrations took actions that negatively impacted family planning, the Clinton administration is reversing that trend. While still legal, abortion is becoming more difficult because fewer sites offer abortions and both harassment and danger have increased.

1. Bias Aganist the Poor Legislation that prohibits public funding for abortions limits the options of the women least able to afford children.

III. WELFARE

The U.S. has a dual welfare system. In the primary welfare sector, benefits are thought to be "earned" and receiving them is not viewed as stigmatizing or degrading. Programs in this sector are Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment compensation. In the secondary welfare sector, the poor are stigmatized for receiving low benefits which vary state by state. Programs in this sector include AFDC, food stamps, and job programs.

 IV. MEETING THE NEEDS OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN

Poor children in the U.S. are the most neglected in the developed world. Nearly 22% of U.S. children are below the poverty line, with minority children disproportionately poor.

A. Poor Children at Risk

	Poor children are particularly susceptible to the following risks:
	1. Infant Mortality The U.S. infant mortality rate of 8.91 deaths per 1,000 live births ranks twentieth in the world. Black infants have a mortality rate more than twice that or White infants.
	2. Infectious Diseases Only 38% of two-year-olds living below the poverty line have had apropriate shots.
	3 Exposure to Toxic Chemicals Poor children often live in polluted envionments. Young children are especially vulnerable to lead exposure.
	4. Educational Deficiency Poor children often start school less prepared than their more privileged counterparts. Low income children are further disadvantaged by the greater likelihood that they will attend poor quality schools.

B. Societal Response to Disadvantaged Children

	Some societiees have chosen to reduce poverty for children and their parents, but the U.S. had taken the opposite position by reducing programs that assist poor children.
	1. Reducing Poverty for the Elderly While Increasing Poverty fo the Young Since 1970, the proportion of the elderly in poverty has decreased dramatically while child poverty has actually risen. The government increased benefits to elders while reducing programs that benefitted children.
	2. Societal Savings Through Investment in Disadvantaged Youth Preventative investment in such services as prenatal care, preschool education, and childhood immunization have been shown to save public dollars in the long run. Yet society is unwilling to meet the short-term needs of children.
	3. Inadequate Government Programs for Impoversihed Youth Society fails to provide adequate medical care and nutritional support for poor children.
	4. The Special Case of Preschool Programs to Enhance cognitive Ability Head Start has documented positive effects for economically disadvantaged children. Research indicates that intelligence (as measured by IQ tests) is responsive to both enhancement and deprivation in a child's environment. Yet Head Start is seriously underfunded.

V. WORKING PARENTS

	In the majority of U.S. families, both parents are in the labor force. Two especially critical problems face working parents: parental leave and child care.
	A. Parental leave Federal policy mandates a parental leave provision for firms with more than 50 employees. However, 40% of employees are not covered under this policy and the unpaid nature of the leave is a hardship for many families.

B. Child Care

Finding accessible and acceptable child care is probably the biggest problem facing working parents. The high cost of child care is problematic for many families. the U.S. has no comprehensive child care system. The federal government's largest provision for child care -- the deduction of child care payments on income tax returns--benefits affluent couples the most. The need for subsidized child care for poor parents, especially single mothers, is great.

C. Work Related Policies and Gender Inequity

Both businesses and governments have been slow to respond to the needs of women in the labor force. This reluctance is traced to two sources: first, the cultural belief that women really belong at home; and second, the current arrangement perpetuates gender inequities in the workplace. Even in those places where family leave policies have been institutionalized, many women find that taking a leave results in coworkers and management questioning their career commitment.

VI. PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE FAMILY POLICY; AN IMMODEST PROPOSAL

What can be done to adress the problems of contemporary families? First, determine the facts. Second, society must establish principles to guide family policy. While a social consensus on such principles is not possible at present, the authors propose the following prinicples to guide family policies:

A. A sense of moral obligation to our fellow citizens.

B. Government's provision for people who cannot provide for themselves, including universal health insurance, jobs, a minimum wage above poverty level, and adequate pensions.

C. A special comitment to children, including medical care, a safe environment, an adequate standard of living, and quality education. Children should be wanted by their parents; sex education, contraception, and legal abortion minimize unwanted pregnancies.

D. A similar commitment must be made to women: young single mothers and divorced women have special needs. All working women must have equity with men and social supports as working mothers.

E. To be effective and fair, some family policies will need to be financed and organized on the federal level.

F. Family policy must reflect the diversity of families that make up the U.S. population.