Statement of Stuart A. Miller, Senior Legislative Analyst, American Fathers Coalition

Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Human Resources
of the House Committee on Ways and Means

Hearing on Welfare Reform Reauthorization Proposals

April 11, 2002

Mr. Chairman and Distinguished Members:

The American Fathers Coalition represents about 250 father’s groups throughout the country. When polling the various organizations for key issues to present to this Committee, I was overwhelmed by the fact that most groups expressed that they felt that the entire United States government was aligned against them. While this obviously is not true, their feelings are, to some degree, understandable. It was not that long ago that Congress paid people to chase fathers out of their families.

The “no man in the house rule” was one of the most perverse aspects of the old welfare system. And in spite of welfare reform, some of the old anti-father sentiments still exist, especially among front-line TANF workers. These attitudes need to be changed if we are going to take welfare reform to the next level.

When a mother applies for welfare, the very first question that needs to be asked is “where is the father?” And then let’s get him in there. We may have a family that doesn’t need to be on welfare. This family may need something as simple as job-placement assistance. Maybe one or both parents need substance abuse counseling, parenting education, or job-training.  We won’t know and can’t provide the services if we don’t get both parents participating in the very beginning.

Getting both parents involved at the outset is an integral step in implementing another crucial aspect of welfare reform: marriage. Just as we support our President in his war against terrorism, so should we support the President in his war against poverty. As we all know, marriage is the most effective tool we have in fighting poverty. But, in order for marriage initiatives to work, marriage needs to be attractive.

Again, we go back to attitudes. How can we ask women to do what Congress is unwilling to do itself: include fathers. Look at how we define families “WIC: Women, Infants and Children” What’s missing from that definition? Fathers.

Anti-marriage activists will stereotype all men as potential abusers, in spite of women’s slightly higher abuse rates. Politicians will malign all fathers as “dead-beat-dads” or worse, “drive-by dads,” and Congress will leave them out of the definition of family. We can’t ask women to commit to marriage out of one side of our mouth, while on the other side, we are maligning the very person to whom we’re asking the mother to commit.

Children love, want and need both parents. Getting both parents involved in the beginning will screen out abuse, provide a venue for needed services and if the children are lucky, might even lead to marriage. But, it won’t happen unless we change the way we handle initial intake procedures.

The several states also need various tools and expansion of existing tools to implement effective welfare reform. As we all know, child support is an essential ingredient for welfare reform. But child support relief is also an essential ingredient. We must expand child support forgiveness efforts which have been successfully implemented in some states which enable many families to become self-sufficient.

There also needs to be mandatory DNA testing. In California, 80% of all child support orders are entered by default. In other words, the putative father is not even there! Under the 1998 Deadbeat Parents Act, we have the ability to make federal felons out of delinquent child support obligors. But, what if the person we turn into a felon is not the biological father? In Los Angeles County alone, there are over 300 men per month ordered to pay child support for children that are not theirs. It should not be the policy of this Congress to turn innocent men into federal felons merely because we want to balance our welfare budget.

But, more important than turning innocent men into felons, innocent children are deprived of knowing who their biological father really is. Anyone who has been to a doctor lately knows that information regarding “family medical history” is essential in treating patients. Knowledge of this history can literally mean the difference between life and death.

In 1996, you passed landmark welfare reform legislation eliminating the “no man in the house rule” that was driving men out of their families. You should all stand up and take a bow. Now it is time to move to the next level of welfare  reform. 

Re-engage men in the business of parenting by not just removing the obstacles to father-involvement, but by paving the way and implementing incentives that will encourage men to fulfill this highest and most rewarding calling. Then, I will be back to ask you to take another bow, which will be even more deserved.