numberwang said:
Paying mother to be single increased single motherhood in the past, the rise of the welfare state mirrored (caused?) the rise of dysfunctional families. Reverse that and give money only if the parents come back together, exceptions only for criminal fathers. |
Do you have any evidence that these links were causal?
Further, I struggle to believe that such a change would aid in the creation of healthy relationships. If the only reason parents get back together is for the tax breaks, that probably isn't a healthy family.
Either way, to some extent, single parenthood is inevitable. The second step of fighting the negative consequences of single parenthood (the first being reducing the single parenthood rate) is to fight the negative repercussions of single parenthood. This means fighting issues like the poverty of single mothers, and the reduced time parents have to spend with their children. Welfare is one of the more clear avenues, with assistance in parenting close behind. I also suggested improving parental leave programs, however I would expect that to have a significantly lesser impact. How do you propose tackling this side of the issue? To ignore this angle would be to only address a piece of the problem you are discussing.
