Rockefeller Proposes Program To Help American Children

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV '61 (D-W. Va.) yesterday outlined a comprehensive strategy for improving the economic, social and educational opportunities of America's children in a panel discussion at the Kennedy School of Government.

The proposal Rockefeller described in his speech, which was entitled "America's Children: The Decade's Challenge and Imperative," has been unanimously approved by the National Commission for Children, of which he is the chair.

"There is no question in my mind that there is a tremendous frustration for families trying to raise children today. It is the nation's responsibility to take care of America's next generation," Rockefeller told a packed ARCO Forum of more than 400 people.

Rockefeller highlighted the need to give parents a $1000 income tax credits instead of income tax exemptions for each child in their household.

Rockefeller said the program would help low-income or unemployed families raise children they cannot support. He said that 50 percent of Black children and 45 percent of Hispanic children would be left out of all the non-refundable tax policies currently being considered by Congress.

Rockefeller emphasized the need for government programs that strengthen the middle class, which he said has been weakened by laws that promote the interests of the rich.

"Middle class families are walking a tightrope," he said, "teetering between economic success and failure, waiting for an unexpected gust to blow them off."

But Rockefeller said that the tax cuts used in the Reagan administration do not offer the broad-based assistance possible with refundable tax credits.

"Tax cuts for the middle class leave out 20 percent of all children. That is wrong," he said.

Instead, Rockefeller said that implementing a welfare system with incentives for social mobility will be critical for the country's future.

"An important goal [of federal policy] is to provide an economic ladder up," he said. "That ladder must reach down to the very bottom of the pile so that everyone has a chance to grab that bottom rung."

Rockefeller said the federal government must also re-introduce Earned Income Tax Credits, toughen child support enforcement, strengthen the welfare program and instill traditional American values.

Rockefeller pointed out the need to bridge the gap between wealthy America and middle-class and low-income America so that all children can succeed.

"There is a tremendous chasm between the relatively few affluent Americans and the great middle class," Rockefeller said. "If that gap becomes unbridgeable, we will have lost our soul as a nation."

Other panelists echoed Rockefeller's call for a more serious commitment to improving the condition of children in America.

Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, emeritus professor of pediatrics at the Medical School and noted author on child development, said that the failure of many U.S. social and economic programs stems from an underlying need for the right values.

Brazelton said that "war, agression, money and power" are the values parents are being told to give their children today. But Brazelton said the future necessitates a return to ethnicity, family and religion.

Lisbeth B. Schorr, a lecturer in the department of social medicine at the Medical school, warned that unless the children of America become a top priority, the whole country will suffer.

"The emphasis must be on helping kids," Schorr said. "The institutions that are supposed to be helping kids are adding to the risk factors. We are almost guaranteeing that another generation will lead unproductive lives [if we do not change].