Nearly 80 percent of long term child poverty occurs in broken or never - married families.Each year government spends over $ 200 billion on means - tested aid to families with children; three quarters of this aid flows to single parent families.Children raised without a father in the home are more likely to experience: emotional and behavioral problems, school failure; drug and alcohol abuse, crime, and incarceration.The beneficial effects of marriage on individuals and society are beyond reasonable dispute, and there is a broad and growing consensus that government policy should promote rather than
discourage healthy marriage.