FRC to Hold News Conference to Release First Annual Index of Family Belonging and Rejection

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Dec 13, 2010, 04:17 ET

**Media Advisory**

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 10 a.m. ET, Family Research Council's Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) will release its first annual Index of Belonging and Rejection, which finds that less than 50 percent of American children have spent their childhood belonging in an intact family. This means a majority of American teenagers' parents have rejected each other, either through divorce, separation or choosing not to marry. The Index is based on the Census Bureau's American Community Survey and reports that the rate of parental separation varies significantly across ethnic and regional backgrounds. The study rank-orders all 50 states and the 25 largest cities.

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The Index, produced by Dr. Pat Fagan of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute, a project of Family Research Council, characterizes an intact family by a child's birth mother and biological father being legally married to one another since before or around the time of the child's birth.

The panel of experts will discuss ways in which society can counter a culture of rejection that burdens communities with higher levels of poverty, unemployment, welfare dependency, domestic abuse, child neglect, delinquency, crime and crime victimization, drug abuse academic failure and school drop out, and unmarried teen pregnancy and childbearing.

WHO: Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council

Dr. Pat Fagan, Director, Marriage & Religion Research Institute (MARRI), Family Research Council

Dr. Nick Zill, Research Psychologist

Dr. Carol Swain, Professor, Vanderbilt University Law School

Dr. Laura Beaver, Annie E. Casey Foundation

WHAT: The first annual Index of Belonging and Rejection release and news conference; coffee provided beforehand with a lunch reception afterward.

WHERE: Family Research Council Media Center, 801 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001

LIVE WEBCAST: http://www.frc.org/eventregistration/index-of-belonging-and-rejection-release-and-news-conference

WHEN: Wednesday, December 15, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET.

SOURCE Family Research Council