WASHINGTON, DC - The Alliance for Marriage called upon Congress today to embrace marriage-friendly welfare reform as an innovation that will benefit both adults and children in low-income families. The Alliance for Marriage is a non-partisan, multicultural coalition whose Board of Advisors includes Rev. Walter Fauntroy, former DC Delegate who organized the March on Washington for Martin Luther King Jr., as well as other civil rights and religious leaders, and national marriage experts.

"For decades, the welfare system has penalized the poor and working poor for making the socially responsible choice of raising children in the context of marriage," said Matt Daniels, President of the Alliance for Marriage. "Low-income families would often lose their welfare benefits and be kicked out of public housing if parents chose to marry. Now the time has come for the welfare system to reverse some of this damage."

Daniels noted that the positive benefits of a marriage are especially pronounced for children: "Marriage is what makes fatherhood more than a biological event. And the negative effects of fatherlessness on children and society repeatedly show up in research studies after controlling for other variables such as race, income level and neighborhood environment."

Researchers have found that children whose parents are not married are:

 Five times more likely to be poor.

 Four times more likely to engage in criminal behavior.

 Three times more likely to become a welfare recipient as an adult.

The Alliance for Marriage represents millions of Americans, of every color and creed, who share a commitment to reducing fatherlessness and rebuilding a marriage-based culture in the United States.