DOCUMENT RESUME ED 197 843 PS 011 984 'TITLE White House Conference on Families. Listening to America's Families: Action for the 80's. The Report to the President, Congress and Families of the Nation. INSTITUTION White House Conference on Families, Washington, D.C. PUB DATE Oct 80 NOTE 248p..: For summary, see PS 011 9B5. AVAILABLE FROM Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 (Stock #040-000-00429-7, $6.501. ?DRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Census Figures: *Citizen. Participation: Community Involvement: *Conferences: Court Role: Day Care; Disabilities: Economic Status: Educational Needs; *Family Life: Family Problems: Government Role: Health Needs: Hearings. Housing Needs: Mass Media: * National. Programs: National Surveys: *Policy Formation: *Social Action IDENTIFIERS *White House Conference on Families ABSTRACT This report of the White House Conference on Families describes preparations for and the conduct of the National Conference and presents recommendations for action. After introductory material, the report traces in section two the development, adoption and ranking of the conference recommendations. Subsequently, recommendations made in four main areas of concern (promoting , economic well-being, confronting specific problems of families, meeting the needs ^f families, and determining the role of major social institutions that influence family life) are listed. Minority reports by delegates representing racial and ethnic minorities as well as guidelines and contact persons for implementation and advocacy activities are also included in section two. The schedule of the activities of the conference: outcomes of national hearings: delegate selection procedures of the states: the convention of a research forum to provide a framework of factual information for the delegates: dimensions of contributions to the conference by business, government and the media: census Bata and Gallup Survey results are recounted in the third section. The fourth section provides an overview of +he conference and brief reviews of events that took place at each of the three conference sites. Names and addresses of participants and delegates ?re listed. Related materials, including the alternative ranking of recommendations, are appended in section five. (Author/RH) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENTOF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTEOF EDUCATION WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON FAMILIES THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO- DUCED EXACTLYAS RECEIVED THE PERSON OR FROM ATING IT POINTSORGANIZATION ORIGIN OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NDT SENT OFFICIAL NECESSARILY REPRE- NATIONAL INSTITUTEOF EDUCATION POSITIONDR POLICY Listening to encasFamilies Action For the 80's Tile Reportto The President,Congress and Families "14 of the Nation CO CI) October, 1980 Cin The White House Conference on Families 330 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 12114 2 FEB 2 31951 2 White House Conference on Families I 'I Section I: Introduction A Presidential Commitment 4 The National Advisory Committee: Guiding the Process 6 Message from the Chair: Agenda for Action 8 Section II: Recommendations and Strategies for Action Introduction to the Recommendations 18 How They Ranked 18 How They Developed 21 Who Adopted Them The Conference Recommendations: Shaping the Agenda Families and Economic Well-Being 25 Economic Pressures Families and Work 31 Tar Policy 33 Income Security 42 Homemakers 45 Families: Challenges and Responsibilities 48 Preparation for Marriage and Family Life 48 Specific Supports for Families 52 Parents and Children 55 Family Violence 59 Substance Abuse 62 Families and Aging 66 Families and Human Needs 70 Education 70 Health 73 Housing 76 Child Care 80 Handicapping Conditions 83 Families and Major Institutions 87 Government 87 Media 92 Community Institutions 96 Law and the Judicial System 100 Special Concerns: Voting Analysis and Minority Reports 104 Implementation and Advocacy: Recommendations to Reality 120 Listening to America's Families3 Section HI: A Year of Preparation A Year of Listening and Action 130 Conference Goals 132 Conference Themes 133 Hearings: Families Speak Out 138 State Activities: Selecting Delegates and Issues 144 Research Forum: Building a Factual Framework 157 National Organizations: Mobilizing for Action 165 Corporate Task Force: Implications for the Workplac^ 169 Intergovernmental Cooperation: Government-wide Focuson Families 171 Media: Rediscovering Families 174 Census Data: Facts on Families 176 The Gallup Survey: An In-Depth Look at Families Section IV: The White House ConferencesDebate and Consensus Conference Overview 188 The White House Conference in Baltimore 192 The White House Conference in Minneapolis 204 The White House Conference in Los Angeles 215 The WHCF National Task Force: Consolidating the Voices 228 Section V: Appendix Appendix A: The President's Call for the Conference 234 Appendix B: The President's Challenge to the Conference 235 Appendix C: White House Conference Materials 238 Appendix D: Alternative Ranking of Recommendations 240 Appendix E: Acknowledgements 242 Appendix F: Staff 248 Listening to America's Fumilies 5 "I want the conference to be a catalyst for a newawareness in the government which I head, and also in state and local governments throughout this nation, of the importance of families and the needs of families. A catalyst fora period of intense reassessment of programs and policies. Where government is helpful to families, let it be strengthened. Where government is harmful to families, let it be changed. "This country is looking to you in this conference for constructive suggestions on how our society can help, not justgovernment, but the entire society, in all its public and private aspects, howwe jointly can help American aumilies of,all kinds. I hope thatyou will recommend specifically things that the governmentcan do or stop doing in order to strengthen families, but I hope you will go much deeper. Look for creative and compassionate solutionsto the problems of finnilies that have already been presented by those hundreds of thousands of Americans, and those that will be presented to you, directly or indirectly, through these three conferences, and then consider whocan best carry out your recommendations, or how those recommendations can be carried out. "I will do all I can to ensure that your work does not end justas a report on the shelves in Washington. I'd like to remind vou that in the past, there have been very few White House Conferences. When there have been White House Conferences, they have almost invariably spurred this country to major and constructive change. "We can build an America where the powerful forces of inevitable change in a modern life don't endanger the basic structure of family life, but strengthen the foundation of family life. Andwe can build an America where the policies of our national life as a family grow out of the needs of millions of individual families that make up our great nation." President Jimmy Carter Baltimore, .Maryland June 5, 1980 6 WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON FAMILIES National Advisory Committee: Guiding the Process he White House Conference on Familieswas guided by aDeputy Chairpersons 40-member National Advisory Committee consisting of 21 Mario M. Cuomo, New York, New York. men and 19 women, ages 18 to 66, representing diverse Lieutenant Governor of New York. racial, ethnic, and political backgrounds. It included per-Guadalupe Gibson, San Antonio, Texas. sons with expertise in economics, health, law, education, psychology, Associate Professor, Worden School of welfare, and family policy, as well as leaders in business, religious,Social Service, Our Lady of the Lake labor, social service and neighborhood organizations. University. Coretta Scott King, Atlanta, Georgia. Chairperson President, Martin Luther King Center for Social Change. Jim Guy Thcker, Little Rock, Arkansas. Maryann Mahaffey, Detroit, Michigan. Former Attorney General and U.S. President Pro Tem, Detroit City Council; Representative from Arkansas. Currently,and Professor, School of Social Work, partner in the Little Rock law firm of Wayne State University. Tucker and Stafford, and Washington, Donald V. Seibert, New York, New York. President and Mrs. Carter greet the National D.C. law firm of Lobel, Novins and Lamont. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Advisory Committee at the White House after J. C. Penney Company, Inc. their. irst meeting in July, 1979. WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON FAMILIES Members Robert B. Hill,Washington, D.C. Rashey B. Moten,Kansas City, Missouri. Director of Research, National Urban Executive Director, Kansas City Catholic James A. Autry,Des Moines, Iowa. Vice League. Charities. President, and Editor-in-Chief, Meredith Robert L. Hill, Corporation. Portland, Oregon. Richard J. Neuhaus,New York, New Chairman, Metropolitan Youth York. Associate Pastor, Trinity Church; Charles D. Bannerman,Greenville, Commission. Editor,Worklview. Mississippi. Chairman, Delta Charlotte G. Holstein, Foundation; and Director, Mississippi Syracuse, New Robert M. Rice,Parkridge, New Jersey. York. President, Loretto Geriatric Action for Community Education. Director of Policy Analysis and Center; Chair, Committee on Jewish Development, Family Service Association Jeanne Cahill,Atlanta, Georgia. Family,