Five decades ago, I was challenged to read the Moynihan Report
(1965). Then and now, I take issue with much of the content, which
smacks of deficit thinking, blaming the victim, and a blindness or
almost total disregard for how systemic racism and social
injustices contribute to family structures. I recall being
professionally and personally offended by interpretations of
single?parent families, which were often negative and hopeless.
Moral development, criminal activity, poor educational outcomes,
poverty, and apathy of many kinds were placed squarely on the
shoulders of these families, especially if the families were/are
headed by Black mothers. Eurocentric and middle class notions of
`real' families like those depicted on TV shows and movies
dominate, then and now, what is deemed healthy in terms of family
structures - with the polemic conclusion that nuclear families are
the best and sometimes only structure in which children must be
raised. These colorblind, economic blind, and racist blind studies,
reports, theories, and folktales have failed to do justice to the
families in which there is one caregiver. Their stories of woe and
mayhem make the news and guide policies and procedures. The stories
of children who have been resilient have been unheard and silenced,
they have been under?reported and relegated to the status of
`exception to the rule'. Perhaps they are exceptions, but there are
more exceptions than we may know. This book is designed with those
stories of resilience and success in mind. The book is not an
attempt to glorify single?parent families, but such families are
prevalent and increasing. High divorce rates are impactful. And
some parents have chosen to not marry, which is their right. While
not glorifying single?parent families, we are also not demonizing
them or telling their stories void of context. Yes, income will
often be low(er), time will be compromised when divided between
offspring, work, and other obligations. Likewise, we are not
glorifying two?parent families as being ideal; their context
matters too. How healthy are married couples who don't really love
or even like each other? How healthy are those parents who have
separate sleeping arrangements/bedrooms? How healthy are those
families who have oppositional parenting styles and goals for their
children? This is the 50th anniversary of the Moynihan Report, and
I am concerned that another 50 years will pass that fails to
balance out the stories of single?parent families, mainly those
whose children succeed and defy the odds so often unexpected of
them. I agree with Cohen, co?author of the updated report: ""The
preoccupation with strengthening marriage as the best route to
reducing poverty and inequality has been a policymaking folly".
Further, 50 years after Moynihan released the controversial report,
The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, a new brief by the
Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) and the Council on
Contemporary Families (CCF) titled, ""Moynihan's Half Century: Have
We Gone to Hell in a Hand Basket?,"" finds that the changes in
family structure that concerned him have indeed continued, becoming
widespread among Whites as well, but that they do not explain
recent trends in poverty and inequality. In fact, a number of the
social ills Moynihan assumed would accompany these changes in
family structure-such as rising rates of poverty, school failure,
crime, and violence-have instead decreased.
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