Commissioner Bill Harrington
Box 5345
Tacoma, Washington 98415
(206) 761-0116




MINORITY REPORT AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
TO THE
UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON CHILD & FAMILY WELFARE




FINAL REPORT & RECOMMENDATIONS
TO
THE PRESIDENT
AND
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES




JULY 1996


Bill Harrington- President
611 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 363
Washington, D.C. 20003
(202) 543-0615
afa@pipeline.com (INTERNET)


July, 1996

Mary Cathcart, Chair
U.S. Commission On Child & Family Welfare
370 L'enfant Promenade #-616
Washington DC, 20047

Re: FINAL REPORT & FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON CHILD & FAMILY WELFARE

Dear Esteemed Colleague;

To our country and to the Congressional leadership, including former Speaker Tom Foley for my nomination and selection to the Commission, I thank you for the challenging opportunity to meet so many interesting people and debate such enormous issues of importance and consequence to families and to America. I am honored to have served as a Commissioner with the United States Commission on Child and Family Welfare.

I respectfully dissent from the majority report. Herein, I present my

MINORITY REPORT AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON CHILD & FAMILY WELFARE.

In conclusion of my tenure as Commissioner, and as a preface to the enclosed Minority Report, I would like to summarize these observations and conclusions:

First, I am extremely pleased and honored in all regards to have had the opportunity to serve and to contribute to the work of this Commission.

In my opinion, the goals of Congress have not been fully met due to this Commission's error in accurately fulfilling its mandate.

However, whenever any group joins together to discuss issues and concerns relating to children and families, I believe it is a good day for America. This Commission succeeded in this regard. I am encouraged by the benefit 65 million American children will receive by the advancement of family policy debate stimulated by the creation of this Commission and our recommendations. Such debate is key to the understanding and the resolution of any set of related issues of such great national importance. It is clearly progress that we have joined in the same debate, the issues of emotional and psychological contributions of both parents with the financial support issue. These issues have been abstractly separated from one another. We should be proud of the advancement made by bringing them together for the first time at the national level.

I am deeply troubled, nevertheless, and concerned with the question of whether we are moving fast enough in our analysis to reach a point where we can reverse the negative and destructive increasing trend of fatherlessness and the correlated reduction in child well-being.

In my opinion, defining a national policy and legislative agenda to address the concern of child welfare could be quite simple:

  1. A national commitment to the preservation and encouragement of the institution of marriage;

  2. A national commitment to the re-inclusion and re-involvement of fathers in family life, whether married or not;
  3. A national commitment to support more and better involvement of both mothers and fathers with raising a child, regardless of marital status;
  4. A national commitment to decreasing the number of children raised solely by single-parents;
  5. A national commitment to welfare reform that reverses prior policy and places father-inclusiveness as a cornerstone of all new policy.

With a renewed, enlightened and unprejudiced public policy commitment, America can protect its family of all children, all mothers, and all fathers from alienation of affections, from violence and abuse, and from the myriad afflictions of poverty and social decay. It is my opinion that this goal can be met ONLY by implementing an agenda toward the above commitments. Without alienating any sector of the American constituency, we CAN offer the Great American Heritage to our children and to future generations .

To the witnesses who have testified to this Commission, I wish to say that I am one commissioner who read every statement and thoroughly appreciated and benefited from the insightful comments that were offered. I thank you for your contributions and for taking the time to participate in this important process.

To the Commission staff and HHS employees assisting the Commission, I thank you for all of your support and responses to my many requests. Your work was deeply appreciated. I hope you benefited as much as I have from working with these momentous issues.

I wish to thank Steven Zegas, Founder of Upbeat Dads, Inc., in Oakland, California, for donating his time to help complete this Report and Recommendations, and for his expert technical assistance.

Finally, to my fellow Commissioners, I wish to express my great pleasure and satisfaction in witnessing the exchange of ideas and arguments regarding American families and children. We proved that Americans of widely diverse views can meet, debate, and still remain respectful of the political process and our individual differences.

July 1996

Bill Harrington,
Commissioner
United States Commission on Child and Family Welfare
To contact Bill, send correspondence to:
P.O. Box 5345
Tacozna, WA 98415
206-272-2152

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