The new state budget includes $20 million to promote the role of fathers in children’s lives. That’s on top of the $2.5 million funding for the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood. But supporters say they think it will be money well spent.
The Responsible Fatherhood Initiative will administer the $20 million to groups that backers said have experience and results with programs that are already in place.
Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said there are connections between fatherlessness and things like community poverty and crime rates, child behavioral problems and incarceration.
"Whether you come to these conclusions through the data and the statistics or you come to these conclusions through the biblical realm, the data is pretty strong," McColley said. "We need to start taking on this issue head on. And we cannot treat this as a taboo subject for discussion anymore."
The initiative is supported by faith-based groups including the Center for Christian Virtue. CCV President Aaron Baer said a study his organization commissioned found 42% of children in Ohio are born to unmarried parents, which is higher than the national average.
"if we want to see the change of culture here, we need to reinstill and recelebrate the value of marriage, the beauty of fatherhood and the blessing of children," Baer said, adding that "government can't do a lot of things" but he said it can send this message.
"What we're doing isn't to demonize single mothers or even demonize people who had children out of wedlock or anything like that. It's not meant to do that," McColley added. "It's meant to highlight the importance of having a father figure in a child's life and the importance of being a present father."
Ohio’s initiative intends to model itself after a similar effort operating in Florida. This comes as Republicans have campaigned on increasing marriage and birth rates.
The Ohio Commission on Fatherhood was created in 2000 through a budget amendment from Democratic Rep. Peter Lawson Jones and funded with $10 million in temporary aid to needy families (TANF) money. It was not funded by Republicans two years later over concerns it wasn't performing as expected. In 2007, the initiative was revived under Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland. Since then the program has expanded its reach by awarding grants, providing training and hosting statewide summits.
