| Advocates
for victims of domestic and sexual violence are speaking out
against President Bush’s new “Healthy Marriages”
proposal. In his Fiscal Year 2005 budget, the President allocated
funds for initiatives to promote marriage, especially among
low-income couples. Proponents of the proposal claim that
it will strengthen families and improve the economic circumstances
of low-income couples by promoting marriage. Advocates for
victims of abuse warn that marriage promotion programs are
particularly dangerous for victims of domestic violence and
their children, because they could make it more difficult
for women to leave abusive relationships.
“Coercing women into marriage without
taking steps to protect them and their children from abuse
would be reckless and dangerous,” said Family Violence
Prevention Fund Vice President Janet Carter. “Governments
and communities need to help battered mothers become self-sufficient
and live free of violence, not coerce them into abusive relationships
through financial incentives or guilt.”
Healthy Marriages Proposal
The details of the President’s Healthy
Marriages proposal have yet to be released. The initiative
calls for $1.5 billion over five years to support marriage.
Among other things, it would fund advertising campaigns to
publicize the value of marriage, training programs to help
couples develop marriage skills, counseling services, marriage
enrichment classes, and mentoring programs that use married
couples as role models.
Bush’s new budget proposal funds various
marriage initiatives at $290 million per year, with a required
state match of another $120 million, putting the total at
$410 million. This includes $120 million for a state grant
program, $120 million to conduct research and demonstration
projects, and $50 million for promoting responsible fatherhood
and healthy marriage.
In a January 24 letter-to-the-editor in the
New York Times, Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children
and Families Wade Horn called the President’s proposal
a “forward-looking, common-sense initiative to encourage
healthy marriages.” According to Horn, the initiative
would dedicate funds to support “marriage education
services to help couples who have chosen marriage for themselves
form and sustain a healthy marriage. For low-income couples,”
Horn concludes, “this would undeniably improve the lives
of children.”
Simmons Longitudinal Study
But new findings drawn from the Simmons Longitudinal
Study, one of the longest-running and most respected mental
health studies ever conducted, show that growing up in a traditional
two-parent marriage is not beneficial for children if the
marriage has conflict or abuse. At the annual meeting of the
National Society for Social Work and Research last month,
researchers running the 25-year Simmons study of nearly 400
Massachusetts residents reported that family conflict and
violence take “a heavy toll” on the mental health
of teenagers. The researchers said it affects them even more
than marital disruption, divorce or separation.
Researchers found that males exposed to family
conflict and violence over the years were significantly more
likely than other males to have suicidal thoughts, be depressed,
have emotional and behavioral problems, be drug dependent,
or have post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers reported.
Girls from violent homes had higher rates of alcohol problems
and lower grades when they graduated from high school than
girls who did not experience conflict or violence in their
homes.
“The findings from the Simmons study
underscore what advocates have known for years: Growing up
in a violent home takes a terrible toll on children and teens,
and can cause serious, long-lasting harm,” Carter added.
“Lawmakers should pay attention to the Simmons study
and reject the Administration’s marriage promotion proposal.”
www.fvpf.org
February 2004
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