For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 7, 2001
President Bush Speaks at the Fourth National Summit on Fatherhood
Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill
Washington, D.C.
View the President's Remarks
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very
much for that warm welcome. It's an honor to be introduced
by Tommy Thompson, who not only was an outstanding governor, but I can
assure you is going to be an outstanding Secretary of Health and Human
Services. He is bright, capable, smart, and does everything
the President tells him. (Laughter.) He's my
buddy. But thank you, Tommy, very much.
I am so honored members of the United States
Congress are here. I appreciate you all being
here. Senator Carper, Senator Bayh, Congressman J.C.
Watts. If there are other members of the Congress here,
thank you all for coming, as well. Roland Warren, it's good
to meet you, sir. I appreciate your focus and
effort. I've got something to say about the other two
characters up here in a minute. (Laughter.)
For seven years, the National Fatherhood
Initiative has been a powerful voice for responsible
fatherhood. And for those of you involved, on behalf of our
nation, I say thanks from the bottom of our collective hearts.
You have generated grassroots support and
important national awareness. You've encouraged public
officials like me to think and act on this incredibly important issue.
I worked with many of you on the Texas
Fatherhood Initiative. We created a statewide public
awareness campaign, mobilized community and corporate leadership,
established a Texas Fatherhood Resource Center, and lent support to
grassroots organizations all across our great state.
Promoting fatherhood was a commitment I made
as governor, it's a commitment I make as President, and it's a
commitment I have made every day since our little girls were born in
Dallas, Texas.
Two people have been a central part of the
National Fatherhood Initiative are now a valuable part of my
administration: the Deputy Director of the Office of
Faith-based and Community Initiatives, Don Eberly; and the Acting
Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services and, we hope, a man
confirmed soon, Wade Horn. (Applause.) I was
pleased to see Senator Carper leading the
applause. (Laughter.) Thank you, guys, for your
service and thank you for your willingness to work on behalf of the
American people.
The intellectual roots of the fatherhood
movement reach back to one exceptional public servant who spoke about
the importance of fathers earlier, more often and more eloquently than
any other public figure -- former United States Senator Daniel Patrick
Moynihan, of New York. Now, the fatherhood movement counts
amongst its supporters a variety of public
officials: Republicans Tom Ridge and Secretary of State
Colin Powell; great Democrats, like Al Gore and Joe Lieberman.
Most states now have initiatives that promote
responsible fatherhood, and more than 50 mayors are involved in the
National Fatherhood Initiative's Bipartisan Mayors Task Force on
Fatherhood Promotion. The fatherhood movement is diverse,
but it is united by one belief: fathers have a unique and
irreplaceable role in the lives of children.
For our children, and for our nation, nothing
is more important than this initiative. Nearly every man who
has a child wants to be a good father, I truly believe
that. It's a natural longing of the human heart to care for
and cherish your child. But this longing must find concrete
expression.
Raising a child requires sacrifice, effort,
time and presence. And there is a wide gap between our best
intentions and the reality of today's society. More than
one-third of American children are living apart from their biological
fathers. Of these, five out of six do not see their fathers
more than once a week. And 40 percent of the children who
live in fatherless households have not seen their fathers in at least a
year.
Some fathers are forced away by circumstances
beyond their control. But many times when a couple with children
splits up, the father moves away or simply drifts away.
We know that children who grow up with absent
fathers can suffer lasting damage. They are more likely to
end up in poverty or drop out of school, become addicted to drugs, have
a child out of wedlock or end up in prison. Fatherlessness
is not the only cause of these things, but our nation must recognize it
is an important factor.
There is a familiar litany that behind every
statistic is a child, and a compassionate society can never forget the
large place a father occupies in that child's life. Children
look to their fathers to provide -- even imperfectly, and nurture
protection, provide discipline and care, guidance and, most
importantly, unconditional love. Fathers are the object of a
young child's admiration. They provide their sons and
daughters with an example of what it means to be a good
man. And many of us believe a father's love, like a mother's
love, even imperfectly, mirror divine love.
The absence of a father can shatter a child's
world. One 14-year-old girl put it this way: My
father left me when I learned to say "daddy." Even though my father is
not around, in my heart he's always there. Every birthday,
every Christmas, I cross my fingers in hopes that my father will come
home. Does my wish come true? No. But
I never quit looking and hoping.
When children quit looking and stop hoping,
something terrible happened to them, and to us. Over the
past four decades, fatherlessness has emerged as one of our greatest
social problems.
Yet, during this period, we've also made some
important social progress. Today, marriages is often a more
equal partnership. Many fathers are more emotionally
involved in the lives of their children. And our society now
recognizes domestic violence for the violent crime it is. These trends
are welcome and noble and overdue.
Many families with one parent do
well. Single mothers do amazing work in difficult
circumstances, succeeding at a job far harder than most of us can
possibly imagine. They deserve our respect and they deserve
our support. And millions of children have strong, loving
relationships with their non-resident dads. But on the whole, we must
never forget children need their dads, and when they're absent,
something is lost.
Fatherlessness has public consequences, so
public officials have a role to play. My budget, for
example, provides $64 million in 2002 and $315 million over five years
for programs designed to strengthen fatherhood. We have
proposed increased funding for promoting safe and stable families
program and are taking steps to help make adoption more affordable.
And we have tried to set an example by
creating an atmosphere favorable to families in the White House, in the
work place, as should all of us who have responsibility for
employees. Democratic Senator Evan Bayh has taken the lead
on fatherhood legislation in the last Congress, and will do so again
this year. And he deserves our
gratitude. (Applause.)
I look forward to working with him and Senator
Domenici, as well as other key supporters of fatherhood legislation,
like Nancy Johnson, to secure passage this year of a bill that provides
financial support to community based fatherhood programs all across the
country. (Applause.)
I'm asking my Office of Faith-Based and
Community Initiatives to develop resource materials to guide urban
congregations and other community groups in finding role models for
young men who have been raised without fathers. And we will
be working with the Office of National Drug Control Policy to enlist
dads in our national campaign against drug use.
We have a responsibility to help children who
have been born into harsh circumstances and fractured
families. As a society, we must work to promote mentors --
committed, caring adults in the lives of children. I always
like to say, I with I knew the law that I could sign that would cause
people to love one another. I'm confident these Senators,
and I know this member of the House, would sponsor it. I can
assure you the President would sign it.
But governments can't cause people to love one
another. Love comes from the hearts and souls of citizens
who want to help. And we must gather up the great compassion
of our society, to encourage loving citizens to put their arm around a
child who may not have a dad, and say, somebody in this country loves
you, and somebody cares for you.
There's no substitute for a dad. I
recognize that. But there's sure a lot of hope when a child
has a mentor. Just look at the record of Big Brothers and
Big Sisters in America. They've had an incredible positive
effect on the lives of children. Children who meet with a
Big Brother and Big Sister regularly for a year are 46 percent less
likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs, and 32 percent
less likely to assault somebody. They are less likely to
skip school, and more likely to realize a dream.
Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America is an
amazing story. And I want you all to hear
this. There are estimates that more than 14 million children
in this country could benefit from having a mentor. To begin
addressing the need, my budget proposes a $67 million initiative to
mentor children whose parents are incarcerated. Our law
should encourage responsible fatherhood; when children are abandoned in
our society should encourage mentoring.
But, ultimately, fatherhood is a deeply
personal calling. Our own children are given to our care,
and they depend on our love. Every parent knows that raising
a child is among the most affirming experiences a human being will ever
know. So many of my generation had the same -- had this
experience. When we held our children for the first time, we
really found ourselves.
We found a world of duty and love that changed
our lives. And since that day -- since that day, dad has
been the most important title I have ever
had. (Applause.) Thank you very
much. Thank you.
Children need a father's love and
attention. And they also need a loving family. To
paraphrase my friend, Josh McDowell, a child's greatest source of
security today is not only knowing my mom loves me and my dad loves me,
but also that mom and dad love each other. (Applause.)
If we are serious about renewing fatherhood,
we must be serious about renewing marriage. Ultimately,
this, too, is a deeply personal calling. Renewing marriage depends on
renewing the inward things of the heart, mutual respect and
cooperation, support and affirmation, love and devotion.
Healthy marriages are not always
possible. But we must remember, they are incredibly
important for children. Our hearts know this and our nation
must recognize this. "What greater thing is there for two
human souls," George Eliot wrote, "than to feel that they are joined
for life to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other
in all sorrow, to be one with each other in silent, unspeakable
memories at the moment of the last parting."
None of us is perfect. And so no
marriage and no family is perfect. After all, we all are
human. Yet, we need fathers and families precisely because
we are human. We all live, it is said, in the shelter of one
another. And our urgent hope is that one of the oldest hopes
of humanity is this, to turn the hearts of children toward their
parents, and the hearts of parents toward their young.
This is the hope of the Fatherhood
Initiative. And because of your hard work, America will be a
better place. God bless you all. (Applause.)
END 1:30 P.M. EDT
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