The theory is simple: Give kids a stable father, and they’ll stay in school and out of jail. But building fathers isn’t cheap. In North and East Nashville — neighborhoods with the highest rates of single parenting in the city — it’s going to cost $4.8 million over three years.
In many communities families are already fractured, and for my progressive friends realize stability is a big issue for children and emotional support can be limited in families.
“Most men build a better relationship with their children within the first 60 to 90 days,” said Gilbert Coleman, the program’s director. “If we keep our guys out of incarceration from not paying child support, we save the city about $28,000 a man per year.“Most social services have always been for the mother and the child, but when you look at the statistics, we are leaving the men out of the picture.”
A lot of damage is done over the decades, we can't always reunify each family, but we can still do a lot for men if marriage is not an option. We can't strengthen marriage without stopping the hemorrhaging.
Is parenting classes really the most ideal public policy to get men to be fathers? Of course not. It's valuing marriage!
Why then are we so afraid to say it, ahem, to make good judgment of what is just?
Well I just said it.
Renee Aste
Lowell, Massachusetts
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