-Caveat Lector- WASHINGTON http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=MARRIAGE-08-12-01&cat=WW Paying poor women to marry fathers of their babies By JESSICA THOMPSON and ROB HOTAKAINEN McClatchy Newspapers August 12, 2001 WASHINGTON - West Virginia made history with its welfare system last year, becoming the first state to provide a cash bonus as an incentive for marriage: A single mother who marries the biological father of her child gets an extra $100 per month. Wade Horn, President Bush's new assistant secretary for family support, said that Congress should run with the idea. In a recent article, he wrote that government "needs to show that it values marriage by rewarding those who choose it." He cited a proposal by the Heritage Foundation to give $5,000 in cash payments - $1,000 in five successive years - to a woman who bears her first child in wedlock and stays married. Critics say the marriage bonus could become a financial onus for poor women, who might be forced to stay in abusive situations just to pay their bills. "For some of these women, staying in a marriage means they will lose their lives," said Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., who opposed Horn's confirmation when it was approved last month. The skirmish over Horn's appointment is just the latest evidence that all is not bliss in the world of matrimony. At a time when married couples make up barely half of all American households, supporters of the so-called "marriage movement" are looking to government for help in propping up the state of marriage, and Horn's record would appear to make him a willing candidate. In his new job in the Department of Health and Human Services, Horn will have authority over federal welfare, childcare, foster care and adoption programs. His supporters, and those who back the "marriage movement," say that children who grow up without a father are far more likely to commit crime, have promiscuous sex, drop out of school and commit suicide. His detractors, and those who question government intervention, fear that Horn will discriminate against single-parent, gay parents and people who just don't want to marry. For his part, the former president of the National Fatherhood Initiative said he will do nothing to hurt nontraditional families. Instead, he said, his goal will be to remove any "disincentives" to marriage that exist in the welfare system. "I want as many kids as possible to grow up with a loving father as well as a loving mother," Horn said in an interview. "With two incomes you're less likely to be poor, which would help out kids." Like West Virginia, many states have taken marriage matters into their own hands. In Florida, marriage skills courses are an obligatory part of high school curriculums. In Oklahoma, Gov. Frank Keating pledged to cut the state's divorce rate by one-third by 2010. He earmarked $10 million for pro-marriage initiatives. Couples in Arkansas, Louisiana and Arizona can now opt to enter into a "covenant marriage," where they pledge to stay married for life and renounce their legal right to a no-fault divorce. Similar legislation has been proposed in more than 20 states. Bush, speaking in June at the National Summit on Fatherhood in Washington, said, "We must never forget children need their dads, and when they're absent, something is lost." Bush proposed spending $60 million on grants for faith- and community-based organizations that help unemployed or low-income fathers and their families avoid or leave welfare, along with programs that teach successful parenting. The movement to promote marriage has been a bipartisan effort that did not start with Bush. It had support in the Clinton White House and has gained support among groups such as the Urban League, which has focused on strengthening the role of fathers in black communities. In an article published in June, Horn wrote that Congress should implement incentives for marriage. He wrote that Congress could require states to follow West Virginia's lead in providing marriage bonuses, but a spokeswoman said that he has no plans to make a formal proposal to Congress. "He's not going to tell the Congress what they should do," said Pamela Carter, a spokeswoman for Horn's department. She said that Horn wrote the article last year and that in his new job he "will not endorse specific things." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.) [Forwarded For Information Purposes Only - Not Necessarily Endorsed By The Sender - A.K. Pritchard] ------------------------------ A.K. 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