Clinton Bars Federal Job Bias Against Parents

Parenting teens is just as important as holding down a government job, President Clinton said Tuesday in signing an executive order prohibiting discrimination against parents in the federal workplace.

“Believe it or not, there are still some employers who are reluctant to hire or to promote employees who have children at home,” Clinton said at a White House conference on raising and mentoring responsible teens.

“The goal of this order simply says, ‘No glass ceiling for parents,’ ” Clinton said.

The order ensures that workers are not discriminated against simply because they are parents. It applies only to federal workers and does not require approval from Congress.

“The job they’re doing at home is more important anyway, and if they can do your job, you ought not to stop them,” Clinton said to employers of parents.

Parents, teens, teachers, youth workers and others attended the daylong conference, which was moderated by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Topics included what parents and communities can do to help teens succeed, how parents can spend more time with their teens, and the media’s effect on youth and parenting.

Today’s teens aren’t different, society is, Mrs. Clinton said.

“Rather than trying to make our kids somehow adapt, we should be thinking about ways that our institutions can change and be more supportive of our own kids and provide what our children have always needed--the kind of connectedness and support and love and discipline that every young person really wants and needs from us.”

She announced an Internet site (https://www.americasteens.gov) to help them with homework, hobbies and careers. The site is being developed by 17 federal agencies. In addition, she announced that another site will be created where parents can find information about current media rating systems.

Republican National Committee spokesman Chris Paulitz complained that the conference relied heavily on liberal-minded panelists. Mrs. Clinton “used to say it takes a village to raise a child,” Paulitz said. “Now all it takes is partisan Democrats and Hollywood moguls.”

Actor and producer Danny DeVito, father of two teens and a 12-year-old, and his wife, actress Rhea Perlman, spoke in the East Room of the White House about successful after-school initiatives in Los Angeles.

“We have to listen to kids,” DeVito said. “There are so many things going through their heads. They’re confused. They’re mad or sad. What do they do if they don’t have anybody who they can trust or turn to?”

But just being at home doesn’t mean parents are emotionally involved with their teens, said Dr. Robert Blum, director of general pediatrics and adolescent health at the University of Minnesota. Going shopping or tossing a football does not bond parents and teens, he said.

“I challenge adults to include us, encourage us, have faith in youth of all ages,” said Gabriella Contreras, a 14-year-old activist in Tucson. “Volunteer with us to make a difference in our community, to enable us to have a voice . . . or just get involved with our daily lives.”