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In an era popular with youth task forces and social programs serving ‘at risk’ youth, we must ask what we can do to head off delinquent behaviors in our young people.
In this episode, I suggest that ‘Family Is The Best Social Program’ and I have research that I share to support this assertion. The research indicates that, “Children born to unmarried mothers generally receive lower human capital investments because the contractual partnership between the parents is less stable, and sometimes nonexistent (**Becker, 1981).”
In other words, we increase the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes for our children when we do not anchor them in families to provide them the needed moral, social and economic supports. Frankly, we cannot reasonably expect to make a healthy community when a large segment of our children are conceived by people who neither parent likes or desires to create a family with.
Families are the beginning of life lessons that cultivate us to interact within our broader community and nation. So if we are diminishing the value of family, we diminish the possibility for our community.
And as the Black community is diminishing the value of traditional family, our youth are still seeking the natural structure and balance that a family provides. Therefore, some youth are finding their family in gangs. Some are finding their family in pimps and traffickers. Some are finding their family in drugs. And some are finding their family in prison.
We just cannot get around basic needs. Children need to know that they belong.  Children need to know that they are valued. We cannot continue ignoring their inherent needs and wonder why youth are delinquent after we’ve deprived them of a solid foundation.
We do not need another government funded program as much as we need strong families.
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