May 6, 2015
By Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization
National Parents Organization attended a Republican Presidential primary event in Des Moines, Iowa on April 25 where nine Republican presidential candidates were present. We did this as part of a delegation of Commissioners promoting the creation of a White House Council on Boys & Men.
The White House Council effort has been led for several years by noted author Dr. Warren Farrell (Father and Child Reunion) to address neglected needs of boys and men including family court practices that cause fatherlessness. Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S., Acting Executive Director of National Parents Organization, is one of 34 Commissioners brought together by Dr. Farrell to promote the creation of the White House Council.
Dr. Farrell organized the delegation of Commissioners to Iowa to continue a dialogue at the highest levels about the need to create a bi-partisan commission addressing the nationwide crisis that exists among boys and men in our country. This effort will be followed by ones to meet with Democratic Presidential candidates.
Volunteer Burton Taylor represented National Parents Organization in Farrell’s delegation to Iowa.
Presidential candidates at the event included Senator Rand Paul, Senator Marco Rubio, Governor Rick Perry, Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Bobby Jindal, Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Governor Scott Walker, and Senator Rick Santorum.
The purpose of a White House Council on Boys & Men would be to “investigate the status of boys and their journey into manhood, identify both surface and underlying problems confronting boys and men, and create a blueprint toward solutions.”
The Commission for a White House Council on Boys and Men identifies five specific issues that need to be addressed including:
Fatherlessness. A third of boys are raised in father-absent homes; yet boys and girls with significant father involvement do better in more than 25 areas.
Also, education, jobs, physical health and emotional health.
Farrell, NPO’s Taylor and other Commissioners spoke with presidential candidates, their staffs and media to explain the above needs and purposes.
The Commission plans to host its next event in Ames, Iowa in July. The event will feature a panel discussion of boys, parents, educators, mentors, and experts who will share the evidence of the boy crisis, as well as a discussion with guest presidential candidates who will present their initial solutions and whether they would support a White House Council on Boys and Men to coordinate solutions. Farrell extended an invitation to the presidential candidates to join the Commissioners for this event.
To learn more about the proposal for a White House Council on Boys & Men, please visit www.whitehouseboysmen.org.