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| When we don’t say, “I do”: The cost of declining marriage rates |
| Family |
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Written by Andrea Mrozek, manager of research at the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada When Statistics Canada’s Census 2006 revealed that marriage rates were on the decline and cohabitation and lone parenting on the rise, it drew little response. Canadians seemed to believe the changing face of Canada’s families would have a neutral impact on society. But would the response have been so blasé if Canadians knew that family breakdown – whether through divorce, lone parenting or cohabitation – increases an individual’s chances of living in poverty? That’s the result revealed by new research released on June 3 by the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada. The protection that marriage provides against child poverty is the major theme of the new report, Private Choices, Public Costs: How Failing Families Cost Us All. The report is a quantitative assessment of the fiscal costs of broken families to government, and therefore to taxpayers. Broken homes are disproportionately dependent on services like welfare, child care or housing. In effect, the government steps in to act as a quasi-replacement family where family, community and private supports fail. The cost of family breakdown, the research shows, is close to $7 billion annually. We, the researchers at the IMFC, looked at provincial budgets and public accounts for 2005-2006, and conservatively estimated the amount dedicated to helping broken families. We were very conservative at every turn, not including, for example, education or justice-related costs. We further identified that close to $2 billion dollars could be saved annually if family breakdown were to decrease by a realistic amount. The intent behind the research was not to offer theoretical, academic information. This is a practical report identifying, realistically, how a reduction in family breakdown could benefit those living on the margins and help pull them up out of poverty. Social science literature shows that marriage offers many benefits beyond the financial. Studies, even those that remove the influence of economic circumstance, show that children raised in a married, two-parent home are less likely to do drugs, less likely to drop out of school, and more likely to wait to have sex. These factors, and many more, help children thrive and become well-rounded adults. Certainly, family breakdown is not about dollars and cents. The most devastating damage inflicted by broken families involves children torn between warring parents, parents struggling to maintain relationships with their children, and weakened bonds with extended family. But there are financial repercussions, and these can be more easily measured. Our recommendations are varied, and include government and culture. Governments should remove any barriers to marriage and should not treat marriage and common-law the same, given that the social science outcomes are very different. Marriage education that explains the public benefits of marriage shown in the social science research should be part of the high school curriculum. Pastors can also strengthen their own pre-marital and marital counselling by giving a broader context, in addition to the theological, for strong marriages in our communities and neighbourhoods. That Canadian families are changing is true. However, this is not a neutral development. It is our hope that solid, fact-based research will help individuals who are just starting out in life make thoughtful personal choices. |
