For the last ten years social scientists have been warning society about the cost of family fragmentation. There have been ongoing discussions concerning the impact on children and adults emotionally, educationally, economically, physically and in many other areas of life. For the first time ever, there is a brand new report about the economic cost of family fragmentation to taxpayers.
According to the report, The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing, by the Institute for American Values, The Georgia Family Council, The Institute for Marriage and Public Policy and Families Northwest, divorce and out of wedlock childbearing conservatively cost taxpayers $122 billion annually. The costs are due to increased taxpayer expenditures for anti-poverty, criminal justice and education programs, and through lower levels of taxes paid by individuals whose adult productivity has been negatively affected by increased childhood poverty caused by family fragmentation.
“In 1970 the number of children residing in two-parent families was 85 percent,” said Dr. Ben Scafidi, principal investigator for the report. “In 2005, only 68.3 percent of children reside in two-parent families. This is a dramatic decrease over a short amount of time. Clearly we are seeing the impact.”
Long-standing research shows the potential risks to children raised in fragmented families include poverty, mental illness, physical illness, infant mortality, lower educational attainment, juvenile delinquency, conduct disorders, adult criminality and early unwed parenthood.
“This report isn’t just about the money, we are talking about real people and real suffering,” said Randy Hicks, president of the Georgia Family Council. “The economic and human costs make family fragmentation a legitimate public concern for all of us. Historically, Americans have resisted the impulse to surrender to negative and hurtful trends. We fight problems like racism, poverty and domestic violence because we understand the stakes are high. And while we’ll never eliminate divorce and unwed childbearing entirely, we can certainly be doing more to help marriages and families succeed.”
Sponsors of the report are quick to point out that this is not a slam toward divorced people or single parents. It is purely putting information in the hands of the people that we have never had before. While they do not make specific recommendations concerning an appropriate response, one could view it as an opportunity to take grassroots prevention efforts to the next level in communities across the country.
What can you do?
- Parents of teenagers can encourage them to participate in healthy relationship skills class.
- Couples preparing for marriage can participate in skill-building classes that teach them how to have a healthy, long-lasting marriage.
- Long married couples can come alongside newlyweds to encourage them in their marriage journey and offer wisdom along the way.
- Churches can engage couples and families in ongoing programming that seeks to meet them where they are and give them skills, hope, words of encouragement and a network from which to draw strength when the going gets tough.
- Companies can inform their employees about resources available in their community and encourage them to take advantage of them.
- Married couples experiencing distress can seek help.
It has been said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The report states that if the nation were to experience a 1 percent reduction in rates of family fragmentation it would save taxpayers $1.1 billion annually. This doesn’t even take into account the heartache and emotional upheaval that could potentially be prevented if this report is seen as a call to action to the people of our country.
