State Sen. Glenn Grothman has proposed a bill that considers nonmarital parenthood a contributing factor to child abuse.
Grothman presented the bill to the Senate Committee on Public Health, Human Services and Revenue public hearing last week, according to the Huffington Post.
Senate Bill 507 states it is "an act to amend ... statutes ... relating to: requiring the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board to emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect."
Grothman was unavailable for comment Monday afternoon but you can read more about his stance in a newsletter he published regarding his belief that the breakdown of the family is America's biggest problem.
The announcement of the bill has turned a lot of heads.
"Wisconsin State Senator Glenn Grothman, the Assistant Majority Leader and a close ally of GOP Governor Scott Walker in the effort to destroy collective bargaining in the Badger State, is taking crazy to new levels," Forbes contributor Rick Unbar wrote.
A post on The New Civil Rights Movement web site also considers the bill an attack on gay couples who are raising children together.
Commentor Nikesha on TheRoot.com suggests that the bill is merely a political distraction from other important social issues.
A Rhode Island resident started a petition on Change.org: "Withdraw Senate Bill 507 and end the war on women."
In 2009 there were approximately 13.5 million single parents in the U.S., with single mothers outnumbering single fathers five to one according to U.S. Census Data posted on TheBostonChannel.com. Single-parent households make up a third of households in Wisconsin.
An American Community Survey 5-year estimate of Port Washington from the U.S. Census Bureau said that 47 single mothers in Port Washington gave birth to children in the past 12 months (margin of error: +/- 51), while another 80 births were reported by married couples (margin of error: +/- 39).
Grothman was not available for comment Monday afternoon.
It does not have anything to do with factors a court can consider when looking to remove a child from a home (TPR proceedings), charge someone with child abuse, or even make custody determinations or anything else involving "the best interest of the child." All it does is require the government agency to include in its literature that single parenthood is ONE contributing factor to child abuse. Is that true? I don't know. I hope Grothman wouldn't call for that unless he had something to back it up, and I've contacted him with that exact question. Those of you who are going off the handle and attributing all sorts of evils to Grothman, you need to look and see what he is actually doing, please. He is not lumping all single women together, he is not claiming all single parent families will result in abuse, and he is not trying to harm children.
Congressional report on child abuse: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/abuse_neglect/natl_incid/reports/natl_incid/nis4_report_congress_full_pdf_jan2010.pdf From Section 5.3 of the report - Children in homes with parent + unmarried partner are over 8 times likelier to suffer abuse than children in homes with two married parents. The incidence was 3-4 times higher in other situations, like one parent no partner, and two unmarried parents.
Also, to "detain a child" is not the same as TPR. TPR is only done once it has been determined that it's in the best interest of the child/children that they are not returned to the family of origin. Anyone who has followed Senator Grothman understands that he has his own social agenda. He must be watched closely for what his true intent is and what should be unfolding from his said agenda.
I appreciate your insights, but I don't see much behind them. First, the legislation doesn't address either detaining or TPR's, so that's irrelevant. Second, the legislation does not require single parent households to be described as the primary independent variable, only that it be emphasized as A (as in one) factor. Finally, you talk about literature but don't cite to anything. The study the Senator shared with me finds an extremely strong link between single parenthood and abuse. Yes, there are many variables at work here, but this is quite clearly a prominent one. "An analysis of child abuse cases in a nationally representative sample of 42 counties found that children from single parent families are more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse than children who live with both biological parents. Compared to their peers living with both parents, children in single parent homes had: 77 percent greater risk of being physically abused 87 percent greater risk of being harmed by physical neglect 165 percent greater risk of experiencing notable physical neglect 74 percent greater risk of suffering from emotional neglect 80 percent greater risk of suffering serious injury as a result of abuse 120 percent greater risk of experiencing some type of maltreatment overall."
Anyway, why are you against including information in government handouts pointing out these kinds of risks? None of this should be controversial. If you want your kids to be safer, get in a committed, stable, married relationship instead of shacking up with the next guy or gal who catches your fancy.
I brought up TPR because of your use, which I agree has nothing to do with the Abuse Board's dissemination of information. I have been involved with the issue of child abuse and neglect for decades, first as a psychotherapist and later as a Board Member and President of Jewish Family Services in another state. My spouse is a state licensed social worker, working for the state in Child Protection Services. The statistics that were provided to you represents a correlation and not a causal relationship. In my first comment I stated that it is a highly complex subject. I feel very strongly that including such information about single parents and abuse is highly misleading. We could just as easily make the correlation between those who believe and use corporal punishment, since they also have a high rate of child abuse. I can't overstate my distrust of Senator Grothman's agenda. On WPR he admitted that he was not getting the other Abuse Board Members to go along with his wishes and now he is using his position as a elected senator to end run the board he sits on.
A. Some do not receive money from the government. They are hard working tax paying citizens. B. Some do not invite men that they don't know (well) and trust into their homes. C. Some have adopted children. D. Some will do anything for their children. I am ashamed to say I have voted for this man. By the way I am a Republican. Please don't tell me not to take this personally. How can I not?????
There will never be an experiment that establishes any one of those things as causative with any scientific certainty, because you could not ethically create and carry out such an experiment. So I have no problem working with that data.
It is all in the same category.
But criticizing that is about as intelligent as criticizing your doctor for telling you you have a higher risk of heart disease because of your age, gender, race, family history, etc. That's the exact same kind of "grouping" going on here - he's not making some kind of inappropriate grouping like claiming all single moms abuse their children, or invite risky men to live with them.
Many years ago I was a licensed psychotherapist. My practice involved many cases of child abuse and neglect as well as adolescent and family counseling. As a practicing therapist I gained a firm grasp of the issues and conditions that contributed to such family dysfunction and subsequent abuse. Conditions vary depending on the circumstances and many variables, but the highest variable was the financial situation. Even if the family began as a married committed couple, nearly 50% ends in divorce. In the majority of those families, children are present. After separation and divorce, finances become a major issue. Women and children are particularly vulnerable and bear the brunt of the economic devastation with many living in a state of poverty. (continued)
Senator Grothman is only one board member of the Wisconsin Children’s Trust Fund and he has been unable to get the board to go along with his proposed inclusion. As he admitted on WPR he is using his unique position as a State Senator to do an end run around the will of the board. This is, in my estimation, an abuse of his position. All information provided by the CTF should be factual and presented in such a manner as to provide realistic probabilities for access to communities. I also understand your support of Senator Grothman because of your connection to WILL. Therefore, I have to question your true agenda.
Regarding the rest of your comment, my point here is not that this "has" to be done, but that there is reasonable support for the position that Grothman is taking, and even though intelligent people might disagree about where the primary focus should be, he's not some monster or troglodyte for proposing this.
With your defense of him, it is highly probable that you support his social engineering views, which I disagree with completely. As in the case of child abuse and neglect, I am only interested in the prevention of abuse and neglect and not the unrealistic pejorative statements against single parenthood.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/wisconsin-senator-who-introduced-anti-single-parent-bill-says-women-trained-lie-about-planne If you read his newsletter linked above, I think it is pretty clear that what Grothman is saying is that government programs encourage women to choose a lifestyle that increases the possibility of abuse for their children. His solution is to somehow tell them of this and...what? They are then going to make a different decision? That's either naive or duplicitous, the latter if this is all a cover to justify the reduction of social programs for single parents.
Instead of pointing a finger at a presumed flawed situation, why not do more to empower non marital households, single parent households are not going to go away and I doubt some words will impact the statistics. Any household with children has it challenges, I'd reckon finances are the biggest issue and more troubling for the single parent. The current system of assistance encourages dependence on the assistance. In 1990, I explored getting a little help. I was working 3 jobs, paying full rent, daycare and insurance. I made too much money and was told If I left a job I'd qualify for gobs of assistance. I was penalized for working. I kept my 3 jobs and lived in a rat hole for 8 years with my son.We survived, ONLY because I had a strong work ethic and desire to make it on my own despite many doubting. Perhaps to generalized of a comment, but...I was in those trenches! My single neighbor? She's on child 5, lives in a much nicer place then I, gets her nails done weekly , nice car, vacations and has NEVER worked a day in her life. I've not had a vacation in 20yrs.
Politifact rates the claims behind this bill as True.
If this kind of overly controlling legislation continues to get passed, it only creates more red tape that gets cut through every time political parties change-over control in madison. I like to envision this as "Droopy at the elevator control" from the old cartoons. When the left takes power, everyone gets slammed into the ceiling, when the right takes power, we all get slammed on the floor. What the world really needs is common sense policies that cover middle of the road scenarios, as opposed to constant extremism and social control.