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January 2, 2024

We Can Make Chicago Safer By Prioritizing Stronger Families

It was a cold winter morning in 2021 when my youngest son ducked into a local gas station to grab a snack before heading to work. As he came out and entered his car, a gunman approached, yanked on his door, pointed a gun at him and commanded him to give up his car. My…

December 18, 2023

Kids aren’t for everyone. But it’s better for everyone if you have them.

If your social media habits are like mine, then every few weeks you run across a video celebrating life without children. A recent TikTok introduced viewers to a couple of “DINKs” — double income, no kids. They boast about how they can go to workout classes on the weekend, plan European vacations, “get into snobby hobbies like…

December 15, 2023

Pro-Family Policy Priorities for States

Introduction America’s system of federalism means that the is- sues that most directly impact the lives of parents and families are often most appropriately dealt with at the state level. While many conversations about how to make family life more affordable and achiev- able in the U.S. tend to focus on the federal tax code,…

December 13, 2023

Stronger Families, Safer Streets

The debate about how best to respond to urban crime—a debate that has become more important in light of recent increases in violent crime and homicide in many cities across America—has tended to focus on two perspectives. The first prioritizes tackling the “social structural factors” (unemployment, economic inequality, poverty, etc.) that are thought to be…

December 5, 2023

The Ninth Annual American Family Survey: Perceptions and Realities of Issues Families Face Today

When it comes to the most important challenges families face today, the public has ideas about how the economy, family structure, health, and other issues rank—but these perceptions don’t always match what the public reports as the biggest issues for their own families. The ninth annual American Family Survey delves into the experiences of American…

December 1, 2023

Red States Can Lead the Way on Marriage and Fatherhood

“If we care about our children, if we care about the vibrancy of our communities, we have no choice but to have the conversation” about absent fatherhood, said Chris Sprowls, who served as a prosecutor in Florida before going on to become speaker of the state house in 2020. In his work on cases involving gangs…

November 27, 2023

For kids, marriage still matters

The science could not be clearer: On average, the children of married parents are more likely to experience happier, healthier and more successful lives. Brookings Institution scholar Melissa Kearney powerfully underscores this truth in her new book “The Two-Parent Privilege,” writing, “The decline in the share of U.S. children living in a two-parent family over…

November 17, 2023

Male Malaise Is Not Just About ‘the Culture’

You are familiar with the litany of ills blighting our society: declining rates of work and marriage; rising rates of obesity and loneliness; soaring deaths of despair. All of these trends reflect the falling fortunesof the American male, a malaise magnified when we look at boys and men in poor and working-class communities. When the male malaise…

November 13, 2023

Family’s Place in America’s Social Fabric

The family is arguably the most basic building block of community life.[i] But even as Americans continue to say their own families are centrally important in their lives[ii], family life in the United States more broadly has changed dramatically in recent decades. At the same time, adults are finding satisfaction in their relationships with friends…

October 31, 2023

It Takes Two

It is indisputable that children are better off living with two nurturing parents who are in a stable, loving relationship compared to any other living situation. But it gets more contentious from there. Does “stability” require marriage? How important is it to live with two biological parents? What if one (or both) adults are not…