Governor's plan aims to solidify families, cut poverty

RICHMOND

Without much fanfare, Gov. Bob McDonnell's administration is pursuing a plan to reduce out-of-wedlock births, reunite unwed fathers with their children and encourage marriage as it looks at ways to shrink dependence on social welfare programs.

As out-of-wedlock births rise and marriage rates fall in Virginia, statistics show children in fractured families are more likely to live in poverty, and thus require government aid.

Yet some advocates are concerned about the approach being taken by officials spearheading the still evolving program, dubbed the Strengthening Families Initiative. That included the award of a $736,000 no-bid contract to Hampton University; state officials have rescinded the contract and now plan to open it for public bidding.

The new initiative is likely to be discussed today and Tuesday at a joint state-federal family conference in Richmond.

Administration officials say that the program is not yet fully developed. While they have created a set of guiding principles, available at www.dss.state.va.us/about/sfi/, they have yet to set out what specific actions they plan to take.

What's clear so far is that officials envision a system in which government agencies refer benefit recipients to family stability services provided by community and faith-based organizations and businesses. Local governments that work toward program goals may receive additional state grant funding.

Chris Spanos, who represents the Virginia League of Social Service Executives, said officials who will administer the initiative have concerns about how it will be financed and are awaiting guidance on how it will function.

The shift comes as the economy is stalled between recession and recovery, a climate that coincides with growing poverty.

Newly released U.S. census figures from 2010 show that more than 11 percent of Virginians were below the federal poverty line, with an even greater proportion of children in that category, according to the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.

In Hampton Roads, more than 173,000 were living below the poverty threshold last year.

Many of them could qualify for public aid. Historically, it's been easier for single mothers to qualify for aid than for two-parent homes.

"We have been involved ... in maybe the unintentional destruction of family," said Martin Brown, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services, which is leading the initiative.

"And so we can be involved in the encouragement and support of families if they choose to receive the kind of services that they need to have strong and stable families."

Virginia's focus on fortifying families runs parallel to federal marriage and fatherhood initiatives that began with President George W. Bush and continue under the Obama administration.

Federally supported research of their effectiveness in building stronger families shows mixed results.

Yet other research suggests stronger families benefit government, said Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia.

When families fail, he added, "the state has to pick up the pieces, both in terms of spending more money and expanding more services."

Other reactions to the initiative are divided along ideological lines.

Virginia Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb argues that the state has a "fundamental interest in marriage" as it develops policy addressing poverty.

"I don't question the premise," said John Morgan, executive director of Voices for Virginia's Children, but "some people are nervous about the ideology behind this."

One of them is gay rights advocate Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, who said the administration should focus on stabilizing families rather than "promoting one definition" of a traditional family as a means to achieve an agenda.

When asked how gay parents seeking public services will be treated under the initiative, Brown said officials are bound by federal and state laws defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

But he insisted the department's goal is be inclusive as it develops a plan to assist Virginia children in divided families. "We're just trying to help people, and particularly children, to not get in poverty and families not to fall into a cycle of dependence but hopefully a lifestyle of independence and self-sufficiency," he said.

Pilot data editor Meghan Hoyer contributed to this report.