March 13, 2023
Dear Mr. Elder,
I read an article by Religion News Service (RNS) entitled ‘Fatherlessness-not racism-is number one problem in the US,’ say Black Leaders. Familiar with your name, I was not surprised you originated that extremely disheartening headline. I say disheartening for several reasons, but for the sake of wasting time over semantics, I’d like to point out one critical point in history. I chose the following historically missed opportunity to highlight two points of interest the public must recognize when they read headlines like the one posted by RNS.
First, I’ve noticed that when people like yourself push the fatherless crisis agenda as the “number one problem in the US facing the Black community,” you quote Former President Barack Obama in a speech he gave in 2008. According to the Politico Staff (2008), the former President said, “A child raised without a father is five times more likely to be poor and commit crimes, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and twenty times more likely to end up behind bars.” However, Mr. Elder, you and others fail to tell the public that Mr. Obama attempted to connect more fathers with their children while in office. According to Susan Jones, the Obama Administration’s goal was to give non-custodial parents more time with the children who did not live with them.
The Administration introduced a new mandate in the 2014 budget requiring the states to include parental visitation arrangements in child support orders. Though the proposed budget didn’t pass in its original form, which the nation expects, passing a visitation arrangement proposal would have expeditiously changed relationships between fathers and their children across this country. Sadly, the Republicans blocked the cleverly introduced visitation clause with no regard for the impact that one section would have meant for the supposed ‘fatherless’ children you speak about so often. According to The Ways and Means Committee, Former Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI) (Sponsor) and Former Rep Charles Boustany (R-LA) (Co-Sponsor) introduced HR 2688 on June 9, 2015, which,
prohibited the Department of Health and Human Services from taking any action to finalize, implement, enforce, or otherwise give effect to the proposed rule entitled “Flexibility, Efficiency, and Modernization in Child Support Enforcement Programs” or any proposal set forth in the proposed rule.
The apparent disdain the GOP and Democratic parties hold for each other is no secret, and bill blocking is part of the animosity. Nevertheless, with the fictitious fatherless crisis, either representative could have blocked every piece of the budget except for the visitation section and joined their colleagues across the aisle to approve a comprehensive shared parenting bill. After all, as you like to say, #WeveGotACountryToSave.“
Mr. Ryan and Mr. Boustany were not alone in refusing fathers equal access to their children. Former Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) said the Administration issued a proposed rule that, if made final in its final form, would make it easier for non-custodial parents to evade child support (House and Means Committee, 2015).
Mr. Hatch’s comments are alarming, considering research has shown that most parents are not avoiding child support. They simply can’t afford the payments. Former Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) Commissioner Vicki Turetsky and Maureen R Waller (2020) wrote that nonresident parents with the lowest incomes and most barriers to employment are often expected to pay an impossibly large share of their income toward child support. Those same parents are not only dealing with enforcement from the government because of owing child support debt; they are being denied access to their children because there are no visitation mandate requirements included with the child support orders.
Another problem with your fatherless ideology, Mr. Elder, is that the term assumes all children categorized as ‘fatherless’ have been abandoned and living in a home with a single mother. At best, the use of the word is misleading; at worst, it is a lie.
Either way, politicians use fatherlessness to block much-needed legislation that can unite fathers with their children. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) said, “This (Obama’s) bill will stop the president’s unilateral action and ensure that our child support laws protect innocent children and taxpayers, not absentee parents” (House and Means Committee, 2015).
Again, President Obama tried to bridge the gap between not just Black children and their fathers but all children and their fathers. Unfortunately, politics played a more critical role in ending the fake ‘fatherless’ crisis that you believe is more damaging than racism. Although you and other Black conservatives are attempting to celebrate linking the alleged fatherlessness crisis to significant problems in Black communities when quoting the nation’s first Black President’s validation of absentee fathers, there is so much more of the proverbial onion to peel. Black fathers, just like any other ethnicity of fathers, are not overwhelmingly absent. They are overwhelmingly alienated.
Currently, and per the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014, according to the Administration for Children and Families – ACF, states are “ENCOURAGED” to use access and visitation funds to support the establishment of parenting time arrangements for parents in the child support program.
Mr. Elder, Can you imagine how many fathers would be active in their children’s lives if Republican leaders hadn’t blocked the mandated shared parenting at the same time child support is ordered? Millions.
Best Regards,
Kenya N. Rahmaan
Please note: Since the publication of this article, CNSNews.com has removed the article ‘Obama’s Budget Orders States to Promote Parental Engagement in Children’s Lives.’
References:
Jones, S. (2013, April 12). Obama’s budget orders states to promote parental engagement in children’s lives. CNSNews.com. https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-s-budget-orders-states-promote-parental-engagement-children-s-lives
Politico Staff. (2008, May 15). Text of Obama’s fatherhood speech. POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/story/2008/06/text-of-obamas-fatherhood-speech-011094
Reese, K. (2015, June 9). House, Senate lawmakers announce bill to reaffirm Congress’ role in welfare policy. House Committee on Ways and Means. https://waysandmeans.house.gov/house-senate-lawmakers-announce-bill-to-reaffirm-congress-role-in-welfare-policy/
RNS Press Release Distribution Service. (2023, March 9). ‘Fatherlessness — not racism — is the number one problem in the US,’ say Black leaders. Religion News Service. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://religionnews.com/2023/03/09/fatherlessness-not-racism-is-number-one-problem-in-the-us-say-black-leaders/
Turetsky, V., & Waller, M. R. (2020). The intersections between child support arrears and legal financial obligations. UCLA Criminal Justice Law Review, 4(1), 27. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7vd043jw
