Fair Start Movement

Category: Children’s Rights

  • Child Brides in the USA?

    Child Brides in the USA?

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    Mention child brides and most people will assume they exist only outside of the United States. But the reality is that thousands of children in the United States have recently taken marital vows. Most are girls married to adult men thanks to “parental consent” and other legal loopholes in minimum marriage age laws. These loopholes stem from a view of the family as isolated from the rest of society and a culture of parenting that lets parents control and limit their children’s future, including marrying them off to be wives – and mothers – before they are even adults.

    Let’s change that paradigm.

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  • Aging and the Economy

    Aging and the Economy

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    The news is filled with references to how smaller family sizes and the aging U.S. workforce are interfering with the supply of cheap labor that businesses have relied on for years. But as this article and graph show, it might not be accurate to say that economies are aging at all. Instead, they’re experiencing the latter effects of a population “bulge” created by the unsustainably high fertility rates of the baby boom, rates world governments intentionally tried to reduce to mitigate a host of problems. Today, we’re feeling the long-term effects of solutions to the 20th century population boom — solutions that were welcome and unavoidable.  

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  • Parental Regret: It’s Real.

    Parental Regret: It’s Real.

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    When given the chance to anonymously admit to their regret for having kids, many parents shared their stories. Their reasons are varied, and they love their children, but they know they didn’t make the best decision for themselves.

    These parents are in a lose-lose situation: the parents themselves struggle in isolation to provide the basics and to feel fulfilled, and the children struggle to get what they deserve. So what’s the alternative?

    Imagine a system where adults are encouraged (through tangible benefits like tax incentives and through a shift in society’s thinking about children) not to have children until they are truly ready. And when they are ready, they can work together with other parents (through things like small family trusts) to invest more in each child. And if they choose not to have children but instead decide to help other people’s kids, their philanthropy is welcomed.

    These parents’ admissions of regret suggest that we need to look for alternatives to our current system. The Having Kids model can help.

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  • Give All Kids an Equal Start

    Give All Kids an Equal Start

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    Two recent stories about the lives of poor kids growing up in the United States shed light on how crucial it is for all kids to have an equal start in life. Unfortunately, both articles show just how far we have to go to achieve that equality.

    Data shows that disadvantages in early childhood development determine the rest of a child’s life. And the day-to-day life of children varies dramatically depending on the conditions in which they are born. It’s time we let go of the myth that people are born equal in any way that really matters, and it’s clear that our “luck of the draw” system for deciding who gets what at birth needs to go. 

    Instead, let’s embrace parenting models that move resources from the rich to the poor to give all children a fair start in life.

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  • Kim and Kanye Calling it Quits?

    Kim and Kanye Calling it Quits?

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    It might be too soon to call, but it appears that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are calling it quits on having any more kids. A TMZ exclusive reports that the “couple is completely cool with capping off their brood at two kids.” Did they decide based on concerns over Kim’s health, or the desire for a better future for their two children? We may never know, but we wish them the best either way!

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  • Adoption: A First Choice for First Kids

    Adoption: A First Choice for First Kids

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    Currently 100,000 children in foster care across the country sit in limbo waiting to join forever families. The adoption group Families in Mississippi for Kids says that many of these children have special needs, come to foster care at a very young age, and often remain in the system until they are teens and age out. While foster care can be very difficult for children, adoptees have a much greater chance of success and often thrive when they find a permanent home. Take Destini Stanford of Hendersonville, NC for instance. Destini spent many years in foster care until she was adopted at age 16. Now, she has overcome habitual shyness to become a public spokesperson for foster children and the benefits of adoption.

    Choosing to adopt allows parents to do a lot of good, both for the child who need a home and for themselves. Rather than having a first, second, or third biological child, prospective parents should consider adoption not as an alternative, but rather as an authentic way to experience parenting and share mutual love with a child who already exists and desperately needs to be loved. The Having Kids model encourages adoption, whether for one or all of a family’s children.

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  • To Have or Not to Have Kids: A Complex Decision

    To Have or Not to Have Kids: A Complex Decision

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    Latanya Mapp Frett’s article “The End of China’s One-Child Policy Isn’t Enough” leaves some unanswered questions. She argues that “[n]o government should interfere with the decisions women make about whether or when to have children.” Yet the UN projected that if world average fertility remained at 1995 levels (about three children per woman), the world population would soar to 256 billion by 2150. Does Frett mean that governments — who have the obligation to maximize our quality of life — would have to stand by and let that happen? What if they used non-coercive methods or urged smaller families? Frett argues that no government “should interfere with the deeply personal decisions women make about whether or when to have children—period.” But is the decision to have a child the same as the decision to not have a child? Doesn’t the former involve the interests of the child that will exist and the society that child will join? We have the opportunity to create a better future for every child by encouraging smaller families and stronger communities.

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  • Our Values: Population is About More Than Just Numbers

    Our Values: Population is About More Than Just Numbers

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    Recently, the New York Times reported on the need for higher birthrates in China and Europe. There is an unspoken assumption looming behind Steven Erlanger’s article, which rings alarm bells about “aging populations and not enough babies.” He assumes that healthy demographics require replacement-level fertility. But is it true? Even at current birthrates, we’ll fill our world with more than eleven billion people by 2100. Does anyone want their children to live in a world like that, given that our current population of 7.2 billion is enough to degrade our atmosphere, acidify our oceans, change our climate, and cause the mass extinction of other species? Demographics is about values as much as numbers. Assuming the need for replacement-level fertility values traditional growth economics over a cleaner, safer, and healthier future – for us and for our children.

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  • Redefining Kinship With the Responsible Parenting Model

    Redefining Kinship With the Responsible Parenting Model

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    CNN recently cited the need to rethink parenthood, criticizing our cultural fixation on biological connection rather than true kinship and nurturing. The Responsible Parenting model is one way to start to break that fixation, as smaller families work together to invest more in all of their children.

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