Social Policies To Assist and Bless Families and Children

    Michael M. Seipel, author of Chapter 28 In Successful Marriages and Families, Social Policies to Assist and Bless Families and Children, emphasizes the outlined duty in the Family Proclamation, "... We call upon the responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society". 

    Families under stress and needy families share a commonality: economic pressure. Low-income families lack access to health insurance and face increased financial risk due to debt. "In 2005, about 25 percent of people who earned less than $24,000 a year did not have health insurance, while less than 10 percent of the people who earned more than $75,000 had none (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Smith, 2009)". "In 2008, the total consumer debt reached $2.57 trillion and the number of low-income households with credit card debt increased by 18 percent, the largest increase of any income group (Mintz, 2008)". Making low-income families a priority will allow parents to be lifted out of poverty and gain the resources necessary to care for their family's physical needs. As they are relieved from the worries and stressors of poverty, they will be able to focus on the spiritual and emotional needs of the family, while cultivating individual talents of their children that contribute in the maximization of their full potential. 

    Matthew 25:40 reads, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me".   How can we fulfill our religious duty to care for the needy and the poor? 

    Income security policies, such as living wage law, pension reform and asset-development policies can be of major assistance. Supportive tax structures, which include Earned Income Tax Credit and tax reform, will be supportive of the family unit. Strengthening Social Service Provisions. like the Family and Medical Leave Act and obtainable health insurance, can bring about positive changes. 

    To elaborate, in the year 2009, the "current minimum wage ($7.25/hr), for instance, full-time workers working all year long will earn $13,920 - far short of the $18,310 federal poverty guideline for a family of three" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2009). Acquiring a living wage law will permit low-income working families to cover the costs of running a home, pay for suitable health care, and overall, raise children. 

   In terms of tax reform, many adjustments can be beneficial. To start off, "personal exemptions and standard deduction should be updated to reflect inflation" (Successful Marriages & Families). Through this, the unfortunate will be below taxable income brackets altogether. Next, Earned Income Tax Credits should be applied, and "the credit should be refundable so that cash benefits are given to low-income workers, even if they don't owe taxes" (Successful Marriages & Families). Then, taxes should be raised on the highest income earners.

    While the Family and Medical Leave Act has encouraged family members to take needed time off due to a birth of a child or an ill parent, the reality of it being an unpaid leave is not favorable to low-income families. Altering the FMLA to a universal paid sytem would carry more value. Many benefits, such as fostering loyalty among employees and better health outcomes for new mothers, would bless the lives of so many families.

    Rick Riordan once said, "Fairness does not mean the same. Fairness means everyone gets what they need".