This searing op-ed article appeared in yesterday’s New York Post, authored by University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox:
“Seven shocking child deaths in the last four months: Liyah Atkinson, Quachaun Browne, Nixzmary Brown, Josiah Bunch, Dahquay Gillians, Sierra Roberts, Michael Segarra. This staggering death toll from abuse or neglect has focused justifiable attention on malfeasance at [New York City’s] Administration for Children’s Services. But another thread tragically links these kids: All were living outside of an intact, married family.
“Four-year-old Quachaun Browne died at the hands of his mother’s controlling, 18-year-old live-in boyfriend. One-year-old baby Josiah Bunch also appears to have died at the hands of a mother’s boyfriend. Nixzmary Brown, 7, was beaten to death by her domineering step-father. Three infants, Liyah Atkinson, Dahquay Gillians, and Michael Segarra, died in the custody of their unmarried mothers, apparently by accident. Sierra Roberts, 7, was killed when her single father lost his temper. And so it goes.”
But no one, at least no one in the elite media, wants to talk about the data, recorded over and over by social scientists, and most recently by a team of 16 scholars that included Wilcox, and all pointing in one direction: Children who grow up in single-parent households or in families where the parents haven’t married, are many times more likely to become victims of child abuse and even murder, by the male adult in their lives who’s not married to their mothers or not related biologically to the children. As Wilcox writes:
“Married parents have enduring legal, moral and social ties to each other and to their children. Such ties increase the likelihood that each parent will monitor and support the other’s parenting. So, for instance, when mom is at the end of her rope with her kids, a married dad can step in and take over. A single mother doesn’t have that option, and a mom’s live-in boyfriend isn’t likely to be a conscientious caretaker; indeed, boyfriends often distract mothers from their parental responsibilities.
“Marriage also changes men for the better. Married fathers work harder and smarter than cohabiting or nonresidential fathers. They also share more of their income with their families, which helps to explain why families headed by married couples are less likely to be poor. Married fathers also drink less and attend church more than unmarried fathers.”
Yet still, the family-life bureaucrats and the media that write about them, continue to insist that any “stable relationship” (that’s the jargon for a live-in boyfriend) is exactly equal to a marriage when it comes to the kids’ welfare. That’s why you see the signs on the subway, “Stop Family Violence.” No, it’s non-family violence that we’re talking about.
Believe me, it’s always the mother’s boyfriend. Always the mother’s boyfriend.