Clinton Pushes Funding for Low-Income Dads in Address

Calling fatherhood a great blessing and responsibility in life, President Clinton used his weekly radio address Saturday to note the importance of fathers in young people’s lives and to push for more money to help low-income men pay child support.

“Research now confirms that involvement of both parents in a child’s education makes a positive difference and that father involvement during infancy and early childhood also contributes to a child’s emotional security and enhances problem-solving in math and verbal skills,” he said.

Clinton said one study showed the chances of a child getting mostly A’s in school increased more than 40% in two-parent families where the father was highly involved.

He released a report from the departments of Education and Health and Human Services that offers educators and early childhood providers information, strategies and tools to successfully involve fathers in their children’s learning.

The program encourages fathers to read with their kids at home and invites them to volunteer in schools and child care centers.

Speaking a day before Father’s Day, Clinton said his administration’s efforts to get more fathers to pay child support are showing good results but that Congress needs to do more to help men support their families, even if the fathers don’t live in the same house with their children.

“Child support collections increased 10% during the past year, reaching a record of nearly $16 billion. That’s double what it was in 1992,” Clinton said.

“This means fewer women on welfare, fewer children in poverty, more families living in dignity.”

Still, the president said more needs to be done.

“It’s why we propose building on our progress with a $255-million responsible fatherhood initiative called Fathers Work, Families Win,” Clinton said.

“The fact is, many fathers can’t provide financial and emotional support to their children, not because they’re deadbeat, but because they’re dead broke.”

Clinton said the program would help at least 40,000 more low-income fathers work and support their children, but the effort was blocked in the House of Representatives last week.

“Congress turned its back on this challenge by not including any money for this important initiative. So I ask Congress to work with me across party lines to pass a budget that makes sure more fathers can live up to their responsibility,” Clinton said.

The president also directed government departments to develop coordinated, interagency guidance to help states and communities identify and use available federal resources and opportunities for promoting responsible fatherhood.

In response to Clinton’s address, a Republican Party spokesman said far too many children in the United States are growing up without fathers and the paternal support they need to flower into successful and responsible adults.

“Fathers have always played a vital role in the lives of their children,” Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci said in the weekly Republican radio address. “Many of us learned from our own fathers how to raise our families and be caring partners and role models.”

Cellucci urged every father to take an active role in his children’s lives on a day meant to thank and recognize the role and importance of fathers.

But he cautioned that many fathers are confronted by challenges greater now than at any other time.

A quarter of all American children will not have a father in their homes, he said, adding that kids who grow up without a paternal figure are five times more likely to grow up poor and twice as likely to drop out of high school.

The percentage of children born to single parents is six times what it was 40 years ago, he added.

“Far too many of our kids are growing up without the support they need to succeed,” Cellucci said. “There is no doubt that dads make a difference in children’s lives.”