Michelle Wu: “Madam Speaker, today, one day after Father's Day, we stand before the House to encourage the participation of fathers in…”

“Madam Speaker, today, one day after Father's Day, we stand before the House to encourage the participation of fathers in the growth and development of their children. In this bipartisan effort, we note that the role of fathers in today's families has always been a prominent issue, but much more so in recent years, because too many of our children are growing up in homes without the benefit of a father. The percentage of children growing up in a home without their father nearly tripled between 1960 and the early 1999s. Depending on estimates, today, somewhere between the cited figure of 16 million to 24 million American children are living without their biological fathers, and it is a shock to me that fully one-third of children today are born out of wedlock. Most importantly, fatherless homes have a devastating impact on our children. It is both common sense, and research indicates, that without a father, children are four times as likely to be poor and twice as likely to drop out of school. Fatherless children also have a higher risk of suicide, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse and delinquency.”