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Dads: needed Date published: 6/20/2010
WHO NEEDS DAD? For years Hollywood has portrayed fathers as buffoons ("The Simpsons," "Everybody Loves Raymond") and exalted edgy, dads-are-optional lifestyles. Television's "Murphy Brown" chose to have a baby sans dad in the 1991-1992 season, and its been all downhill ever since. This summer, the silver screen will feature "The Switch," in which Jennifer Aniston decides she's waited long enough for Mr. Right and it's time for a sperm bank baby. "The Kids Are All Right" will portray a lesbian couple raising children without a man. But while the cultural elite may think it's cool to declare dad obsolete, reality proves otherwise. Bradford Wilcox, a University of Virginia marriage and family expert [see "'Mancession' wears on husbands, dads," D1], finds that kids raised without dads struggle. Teenage girls, for example, are more likely to drop out of school, become pregnant, or be depressed when divorce has disrupted their relationship with dad. The Census Bureau says kids without dads in the home are five times more likely to be poor. The Justice Department says a study of over 13,000 women in prison found over half grew up without a father. And the statistics hold across national boundaries: Interpol reports that there is a strong correlation between single-parent families and violent crime. Who needs dad? We all do. Perhaps the ultimate example of the absentee father is the sperm donor. Each year in America between 30,000 and 60,000 children are conceived through artificial insemination at a sperm bank. The donor is often a student looking for an easy way to make a few bucks. So what happens to those kids? The Commission on Parenthood's Future studied 485 of the children conceived in this process, now young adults between the ages of 18 and 45. The results, detailed in a report called "My Daddy's Name is Donor," are startling. Two-thirds of the donor kids believe they have a right to know both biological parents. An astounding 44 percent believe it is "wrong to deliberately conceive a fatherless child" and nearly half agree that "When I see friends with their biological fathers and mothers, it makes me feel sad."
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