PRO-MARRIAGE EFFORT RENEWS: From the Salt Lake Tribune

...The 28-page document titled "What Next for the Marriage Movement?" calls for expanding marriage education programs, reforming divorce laws, building a stronger grass-roots base and creating a task force to help develop marriage-friendly public policies nationwide.

It was signed by more than 140 civic leaders--spiritual advisers, politicians, researchers, academics, legal experts, therapists, and family and marriage educators--and published by the Institute for American Values. Local signatories to the document include a handful of Brigham Young University and Utah State University professors.

Four years ago, movement organizers formally launched an effort to reverse a trend of family breakdown they said was signaled by spiraling divorce and out-of-wedlock birth rates.

Those trends have slowed, which the movement says shows a pro-marriage campaign, including education, financial incentives and national dialogue, has had an impact--a claim critics say is undeserved.

Divorce rates have modestly declined, unwed childbearing has leveled off and the proportion of children living in married-couple homes has stabilized. ...

Critics worry that many of the movement's goals are aimed at "turning the clock back," as family scholar Stephanie Coontz puts it, particularly as states tinker with divorce law. ...

The marriage movement's mission may get a high-level boost in support if former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt moves successfully from the Environmental Protection Administration to the top post at the Department of Health and Human Services. Leavitt was the first governor in the country to launch a marriage-boosting initiative when he set up a marriage commission in 1998.

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posted by Eve at 5:09 PM | link

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