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Petition to the General Conference, 2004, In accordance with the instructions for preparation of petitions, PAGE NUMBER: Page 1 of 7 SUGGESTED TITLE/SUBJECT MATTER: Putting Children and Their Families First PETITION CONCERNS: New Resolution FINANACIAL IMPLICATIONS: None PETITION TEXT: “We believe the family to be the basic human community through which persons are nurtured and sustained in mutual love, responsibility, respect and fidelity.” Children are “acknowledged to be full human beings in their own right, but beings to whom adults and society in general have special obligations…All children have the right to quality education. … Moveover, children have the rights to foods, shelter, clothing, health care, and emotional well-being as do adults, and these rights we affirm as theirs regardless of actions in inactions of their parents or guardians. In particular, children must be protected from economic, physical and sexual exploitation and abuse.” (From Social Principles of the United Methodist Church in The Book of Discipline.) THE PROBLEM Growing up whole and healthy is increasingly difficult for children. They face weakening support systems throughout society, from home to school to church, at the very time they are struggling with unprecedented stresses. They are forced to grow up too quickly, to make significant life choices at a younger and younger age. The percentage of children in poverty is the most widely-used indicator of child well-being. Growth in the ranks of poor children in the United States over the past few decades has not been due to an increase in the number of welfare-dependent families; rather, it is because the ranks of the working poor have been growing. For example, between 1976 and 2000, the number of children living in economically poor families who were totally dependent on welfare fell from 2.8 million to 1.1 million. At the same time, the number of children living in economically poor families who had income from jobs but no financial public assistance increased from 4.4 million to 6.9 million. A major reason for these discrepancies was a significant change in the way the US government provides public assistance to low and no income families. Despite the enormous wealth in the United States, our child poverty rate is among the highest in the developed world. (from KIDS COUNT DATA BOOK 2002). Globally, children are increasingly at risk from the effects of poverty. UNICEF reports in its 2002 Annual Report that “a child born today has a one-in-four chance of being born into poverty – a life of poor health, missed education and increased violence, insecurity and discrimination.” Poverty inflicts irreparable damage on young bodies and minds. Nearly 11 million children under the age of five die each year from common illnesses and malnutrition associated with poverty. Poverty undermines the health, abilities and potential of millions more children. PUBLIC POLICY IMPLICATIONS In light of the critical nature of the problems described above, the United Methodist Church should press for public policies that:
Too often we engage in public policy debate, make new laws and cut budgets and programs without putting the highest priority on how any change or policy will affect children and their families. WE CALL UPON UNITED METHODISTS TO ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS OF ANY PENDING LEGISLATION, ANY BUDGET CUT, ANY NEW POLICY:
Legislators and other public leaders should be held accountable to citizens and voters for their answers to these questions and for the results of their actions. CHURCH PROGRAM AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS Churches must strengthen and expand their ministry and advocacy efforts on behalf of children and their families. A coordinated ministry that serves families with children in the congregations and the larger community, that hands with human service providers and ecumenical colleagues, and that addresses the public policy conerns listed above is needed in every church and community. The church has traditionally emphasized the integrity of the institutions of marriage and family and the responsibilities of parenthood. While these emphases should be maintained, a holistic ministry with families much, of necessity, be based on the broadest possible definition of family so that the great variety of structures and configurations will be included. Grandparents often function as parents and many families are headed by single parents or “blended” through divorce and remarriage. Adoption, fostering, and extended family structures are among those that need the church’s ministry. Churches need to understand that all the problems described here happen to individuals and families inside the congregation as well as in the community. It is critically important that each congregation deal openly with the needs of its members and its community, and begin developing appropriate ministry responses for children and their families. Support groups, hotlines, shelters, parenting classes, treatment programs, home care services, nutrition and feeding programs, and after school/tutoring and mentoring programs are especially needed in many communities and are programs that churches are often well-suited to sponsor or support. A network of child-serving institutions and agencies from community centers to residences for at-risk children and youth, exists across the church. Many are local expressions of national or international missions, and others are related to annual conferences. These agencies meet critical needs and urgently require the financial, volunteer, and prayer support of congregations. The council of Bishops, in its 2001 document on the Initiative on Children and Poverty, said that: “In a world constituted by division and competition, in which the gap between the rich and the poor widens like a yawning chasm and human live is reduced to a marketable commodity while the impoverished majority of the earth becomes invisible to the prosperous few, it is the church that is called to be the visible and tangible presence of a community built upon grace.” THEREFORE, WE CALL UPON THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH TO: 1. Generate a plan in every local church for assessing ministry with children (in the congregation and in the community) and implementing a vision for ministry with children and their families that takes seriously the facts and perspectives presented above. This plan is to be overseen by the official decision-making body of every local church. The manual: Putting Children and Their Families First: A Planning Handbook for Congregations can guide the process.* 2. Use the Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty manual Community with Children and the Poor: A Guide for Congregational Study in every local church.* 3. Celebrate the Children’s Sabbath in every local church each October. Utilize the resource manual developed annually by the children’s Defense Fund.* 4. Increase awareness of the needs of children and their families by challenging the church’s leaders (including bishops, general agency staff, director of connectional ministries, superintendents as well as local church clergy and lay leaders) to spend the equivalent of one full day each year as a volunteer at a local outreach ministry that serves children such as a community center, child care center, tutoring or parenting program, or shelter for homeless families. 5. Continue and strengthen a task force formed of persons from general church agencies who work on issues of child and family advocacy, in order to coordinate work. The task force will be convened annually by the office of Children’s Ministries of the General Board of Discipleship. *Order from Service Center (1-800-305-9857). Significantly revised from 1996 resolution (inadvertently omitted from 2000 Book of Resolutions) DATE: November 24, 2003 SUBMITTED BY: Kathryn J. Johnson, on behalf of PETITIONER IDENTIFICATION: Methodist Federation for Social Action TELEPHONE: 202-546-8806 |
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