President-Elect Obama's accomplishment is a landmark in the history of our country.  It actualizes for all of us Dr. King's dream that the content of one's character exceeds in importance the color of one's skin.  It helps to remedy a wrong that our nation has struggled with since our beginning.

    His election is also a landmark in the history of effective parenting.  In speaking about fulfilling America's promise, he has eloquently exemplified and linked our future as a people to the competencies and commitment of parents in guiding the development of our children.  His speeches that have urged and inspired parents to carry out their responsibilities as the leaders of families have added to the dignity and status of that pivotal role.

    His emphasis on the importance of effective and responsible parenting in the lives of children, and in the future of our nation, has been particularly timely and welcomed.
 
Why Effective Parenting Is So Important
 
    There are signs all around that many parents are not as effective as possible, which is costing our nation an enormous price.
 
    Our rates of parental abuse and neglect of children are still shockingly high, with three million reported cases a year.  Such children and their families require an array of expensive services to prevent further abuse and to treat children for the physical, mental and learning problems that are the usual accompaniment of child maltreatment. 

    Parent education, before there are problems, would prevent many of these families from ever coming to the attention of the state and their children entering foster care, thereby saving each state millions of dollars each year.

  

    In many of our cities the public school dropout rate has reached epidemic proportions, and ineffective parenting is one of the prime contributors. Dropouts drain our welfare resources and rarely reach their full human and workforce potential. Parent education teaches parents how to teach their children healthy family values, like the importance of getting an education, and skills for being supportive of and involved in their children's education.
 
    Childhood obesity and adolescent drug use are major health problems, and uninformed and ineffective parenting is again implicated.   
 
    The gang problems that plague our communities can also be seen as resulting from parents not being as responsible and effective in carrying out their guidance and supervision responsibilities, which causes children to seek out a "replacement family."  
 
    All of these problems cost our nation billions of dollars, and thus should be addressed for economic as well as humanitarian purposes.  For example, the direct costs of child maltreatment (judicial, law enforcement and health system responses) are estimated at 24 billion each year.  The indirect costs (long term economic costs of child maltreatment such as lost wages and taxes paid) exceed an estimated $69 billion annually. 

What We Are Asking President-Elect Obama 

    We at the National Effective Parenting Initiative -- a nationwide coalition of parents, providers of parenting services, and local and national organizations that develop and disseminate effective parenting programs - urge President-Elect Obama to encourage all parents to seek out parent education programs to better the lives of their children, their families and their communities. 

 

    By his simply indicating the importance of receiving parenting education, he can inspire millions of parents of all backgrounds to do the right thing for their current and future children --  become as educated and effective as possible.
   

This type of encouragement, which is consistent with his call for individuals to take actions that benefit the entire nation, could be reinforced by issuing certificates of appreciation to parents who do indeed take the time and energy to enroll in and complete family and parenting skill-building classes and workshops.
 
    This would also encourage the funding of such parenting programs by private, public, corporate, non-profit, and government funders. Even more powerful would be to offer a tax incentive to parents for taking a parenting class every 3 years (as their children reach new developmental milestones).  The Return On Investment (ROI), by reducing child abuse, the number of children in foster care, child health care costs, adolescent drug abuse, dropout rates, and gang violence, would likely be seen in less than ten years.   
 

We Stand Ready to Serve
 
     We at the National Effective Parenting Initiative stand ready and able to share what we have learned and to help make effective parenting a national priority. 
 
     We have developed detailed blueprints for how the federal government can be positively involved in assisting America's parents to be the best that they can be.  We have shared such blueprints with the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, including through White House Briefings.  We are ready to do so again, and to work with the new administration in seeing to it that all communities have the programs and personnel to provide their parents with the educational opportunities that they need and deserve. 
     

Indeed, America already possesses the world's most varied and research-proven parenting and family skill-building programs, and other nations look to us to train their people how to train their parents.  American ingenuity and creativity has led to the development of effective parenting programs for parents of children of different ages and for parents of varied cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Some of the nation's top parenting programs are shown in the adjacent column. You can click on them to get more information. 

 

     President-Elect Obama's recognition of this expertise, and his actions to see to it that every parent has the motivation and opportunity to receive the education and support that matches their values, life circumstances and heritage would be a massive advancement. 

     So we are not only congratulating him on his monumental achievement.  We are also, out of the spirit of service he is asking from all Americans, pledging our knowledge and expertise to work with him and his administration to make the United States the most nurturing nation in which to raise children.

 

Sincerely,
 
Kerby T. Alvy, Ph.D.,
Founder and Advisory Board Member,
National Effective Parenting Initiative