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11SEPTEMBER2013BODYOFCHRISTNEWSofpovertywithinallracialgroups.ForexampleinColoradonon-marriedHispanicfamiliesarethreetimesmorelikelytobepoorthanmarriedHispanicfamilies.Non-marriedblackfamiliesarefourtimesmorelikelytobepoorthanmarriedblackfamilieswhilenon-marriedwhitefamiliesareseventimesmorelikelytobepoorthanmar-riedwhitefamilies.MaritalCollapseNottheSameasTeenPregnancyUnwedchildbearingisoftenerrone-ouslyconfusedwithteenpregnancy.Inrealityonly11percentofnon-maritalbirthsinColoradooccurtogirlsunderage18.Mostnon-maritalbirthsoccurtoyoungadultwomenintheirearly20s.Lackofaccesstobirthcontrolisnotasignificantcauseofnon-maritalbirths.TheImportanceofFathersThepositiveeffectsofmarriedfathersarenotlimitedtoincomealone.Childrenraisedbymarriedparentshavesubstantiallybetterlifeoutcomescomparedtosimilarchildrenraisedinsingle-parenthomes.Whencom-paredtochildreninintactmarriedhomeschildrenraisedbysinglepar-entsaremorelikelytohaveemotionalandbehavioralproblemsbephysicallyabusedsmokedrinkandusedrugsbeaggressiveengageinviolentdelin-quentandcriminalbehaviorhavepoorschoolperformancebeexpelledfromschoolanddropoutofhighschool.1Manyofthesenegativeout-comesareassociatedwiththehigherpovertyratesofsinglemothers.Inmanycaseshowevertheimprove-mentsinchildwell-beingthatareassociatedwithmarriagepersistevenafteradjustingfordifferencesinfamilyincome.Thisindicatesthatthefatherbringsmoretohishomethanjustapaycheck.FaultyPoliciesIgnoringthepositiveimpactofmar-riageonchildrenleadstofaultygov-ernmentpolicies.Todaybillionsareproperlyspentontheeducationoflow-incomeyouth.Billionsmorearespenteachyearonmeans-testedwelfareaidforsinglemothers.Butatpres-entColoradodoeslittleornothingtodiscourageunwedbirthsandnothingtoencourageandstrengthenhealthymarriages.Tragicallythecriticalfactsabouttheimportanceofmarriageincombat-ingpovertyarenevercommunicatedtoyouthsatriskforfuturenon-maritalbirths.Similarlythestatewelfaresys-temignoresanddisdainstheinstitu-tionofmarriageInfactmostwelfareprogramsactivelypenalizelow-incomecoupleswhodomarry.Coloradowillcontinuetohavehighlevelsofchildpovertyinequalityandwelfaredependenceaslongasthisgovernmentalindifferenceandhostil-itytomarriagepersists.Ironicallyresearchshowsthatmostunwedparentslookfavorablyontheinstitutionofmarriage.2Newpoli-ciesshouldbedevelopedthatbuildontheseattitudes.Governmentshouldprovidefactualinformationtoat-riskyouthaboutthevalueofmarriage.Itshouldalsoconnectlow-incomecou-pleswithcommunityresourcesthatwillhelpthemrelearntheskillsneed-edtodevelopandsustainhealthymar-riagesbeforebringingchildrenintotheworld.Finallythestatewelfaresystemshouldbereformedtoencouragerath-erthandiscouragemarriage.POVERTY...frompage7