a:10:{i:0;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"10";s:4:"slug";s:23:"contact-the-island-news";s:4:"name";s:23:"Contact The Island News";s:4:"type";s:8:"fieldset";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}i:1;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"14";s:4:"slug";s:4:"name";s:4:"name";s:4:"Name";s:4:"type";s:4:"text";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}i:2;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"15";s:4:"slug";s:13:"business-name";s:4:"name";s:13:"Business Name";s:4:"type";s:4:"text";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}i:3;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"16";s:4:"slug";s:7:"address";s:4:"name";s:7:"Address";s:4:"type";s:7:"address";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:24:"United States of America";}i:4;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"17";s:4:"slug";s:5:"phone";s:4:"name";s:5:"Phone";s:4:"type";s:5:"phone";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:11:"90430030128";}i:5;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"18";s:4:"slug";s:5:"email";s:4:"name";s:5:"Email";s:4:"type";s:5:"email";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:21:"hkirkrainer@gmail.com";}i:6;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"19";s:4:"slug";s:15:"how-can-we-help";s:4:"name";s:16:"How can we help?";s:4:"type";s:8:"textarea";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:6431:"Age to Age, Keeping up on the Games of Fathers and their Male Counterparts

Regarding Scott Grabber’s article on “Fathers are going to have to up their parenting game,” this is a subject for which I have been following for some years, foremost that of fathering and the family, both reading and writing on this subject, relying much on those who have studied such matters.   

To begin and possibly to your point, fathers not actively involved in parenting and their males underperforming…, there is much to consider, some suggested books to include David Blankenhorn, Fatherless America, and David Popenoe, Life without Father: Compelling new evidence that fatherhood and marriage are indispensable for the good of children and society, to name two reads.  More recently, Warren Farrell, The Father and Child Reunion and others….

There are likely numerous reasons for the decline, a deficit in fathering, which is much the work of those cited and others whose qualifications are rooted in those professions, studies, etc. Here, and with what I have learned and believe to be true, a few of the possible reasons beginning with some mid-20th century statistics compared with the same segment of our population roughly 15 years later.   

In the mid-1900s, the general health of the country’s black societies, measured generally as intact families…with two married parents, was in better standing  than white societies, in part for the reason as strong, close communities, often at center, the church and coinciding faith-based lifestyle.   By the 1960s however, following President Johnson’s “The Great Society”, this strength had begun to wane, the rise of single-parent households and out-of-wedlock children; consequently, what had been the strength of these communities was undermined by government largesse and intentions of  buying votes.    Couple these programs with the beginning of America’s deindustrialization and what you get are fewer faithful fathers, either because they cannot equally, economically support their families and/or they have been subordinated to the government services, often with grave results as described.   

But the reasons go further of course, another of which is Nixon’s “War on Drugs” and the historically-unprecedented sweep of our nation, predominately male and disproportionally black, to grow the largest prison population in the world both in per capita and total numbers—that not only punish offenders with prison but further, prolong public records that denies them opportunities with all the residual effects of recidivism, despair and disparity from/with family, children.  But on a bright note, organizations such Prison Fellowship and other national and local ministries—acting in the interest of society—are much more attune to the plight of the prisoner and the sizable population of those who suffer, communities…children, extending their funds and services from jails to federal prisons.    

And still another reason, and one very personal and painful, is that of divorce and child custody—one of which I am sure you aware given your profession as a lawyer—has created adverse effects, a cascading effect on not only families and marriage, but also children who experience fatherless lifestyles among the effects of unilateral, uncontested and no-fault reforms initiated in California in the late 1960s, the result of then Governor Reagan, that not only caused a surge in divorce but a consistent decline in marriage that at present is the lowest per capita in our history, as destined!   
The decline in fatherhood, as a key component of community, correlates with rising divorce, single-parent homes, unwed pregnancy, and all (else) that has transpired in the throes of undermining marriage. And to ensure that I cannot omit personal, selfish choices or irresponsibility, whether drinking at the bar or outright negligence or abandonment, to be disbarred from one’s role (never mind right), as an active and beneficial part of one’s children is, by any measure, reason enough to raise doubts about who has done what to whom—and further, what is the endgame of those with such aims.    

When/as LBJ ushered in The Great Society, it served him (the state), winning the allegiance of many who benefitted through government outlays notwithstanding the adverse effects wrought on society as briefly described.  When/as Nixon initiated the War on Drugs, or mass incarceration, it served to promote a get tough on crime as well as economic interests of public and private organizations that profit, superseding the consequences to communities, fathers and families as briefly described.   When/as Reagan initiated such divorce reforms—which he later openly regretted—it served to reduce marriage to a relationship of convenience, effectively nullifying any contract.   And sure, I consider that one should not have to suffer in a “bad marriage” but should one be forced to divorce—without their consent—often justified by “irreconcilable differences”, however abstract and ambiguous.   

The woes of fathers and fatherhood, and their male counterparts, is much more than the result of poor choices, lack of ambition or absence of good will, and in fact, much larger too.   There is (and has been) a direct assault on these figures in all aspects, the paternalistic past, with a proclivity toward community calamity by powers and their forces that benefit.  Take for instance the national child support program, or Title IV-D, that subsidizes collections and thus gives incentives for judges to separate the children from one parent—almost always the father—given the revenue potential.  But more, is those that paint parents as impersonal and incompetent, often depicting them as out-of-touch at the least and generally incapable of managing their own lives let alone their children’s….

One should ask or question, beyond Grabber’s point,  the deeper and darker reasons behind the state of fathers, fatherhood, and the family; a general decline in the strength of each/all that is not simply three men at a bar while their wives and children play at the river’s edge, but is much more the result or effect of programs that, intentional or not, has hurt and is hampering the health of society and, as history doth tell, raises the opportunity for yet more state intervention, invasion.";}i:7;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"11";s:4:"slug";s:12:"verification";s:4:"name";s:12:"Verification";s:4:"type";s:12:"verification";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:1:"0";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}i:8;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"12";s:4:"slug";s:27:"please-enter-any-two-digits";s:4:"name";s:27:"Please enter any two digits";s:4:"type";s:6:"secret";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:2:"11";s:5:"value";s:2:"12";}i:9;a:7:{s:2:"id";s:2:"13";s:4:"slug";s:6:"submit";s:4:"name";s:6:"Submit";s:4:"type";s:6:"submit";s:7:"options";s:0:"";s:9:"parent_id";s:2:"11";s:5:"value";s:0:"";}}