Fathers & Families' Bill Stephney: 'The 'Daddy-as-ATM' theory still drives public policy'
 Fathers & Families’ national board member Bill Stephney, a former prominent music executive who produced artists Public Enemy, Vanessa Williams and others, has a compelling new article out for NewsOne called Black Fatherhood In The Age Of Obama (2/11/09). Bill writes:
"[The] now-infamous observation of Johns Hopkins sociologist Andrew Cherlin, stating that the problem with so many black single mother families was ‘not the lack of a male presence, but the lack of a male income.'
"In essence, in Cherlin’s view (and that of many others of that generation), fathers served no particular purpose to families other than to monetarily fund single mothers and their children. It was the ‘Daddy-as-ATM’ theory.
“This ‘theory’ served as the engine that still drives public policy to focus on aggressive child support collection from fathers, rather than encouraging strong, comprehensive relationship (moral, spiritual, ethical and financial) connections between fathers, mothers and children.”
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Fathers and Families is a family court reform organization with a comprehensive strategy, an impressive history of fundraising success, and the largest reach of any advocacy group of its kind:
