Letter: Single parenthood and poverty

Anne Michaud's column on the devolution of the traditional family unit -- that is, two parents raising their biological progeny -- borders on incoherence ["Family has changed; let's make the best of it," Opinion, Aug. 9].

The column culls half-baked policy suggestions that fail to address the self-evident problem -- that individuals should not have children unless they are married. Of course, such antiquated notions of societal cohesion and children's best interests escape Michaud, who appears fascinated by the "morphing" of "marital norms" into a society where men sire children while hopelessly naive and empowered young woman are left cleaning up the sociological mess.

Michaud needs to look no farther than any poor community to see the economic, social and emotional destruction caused by out-of-wedlock births. Do we really need new policies that result in more urban males being raised by teen moms who simply make the same poor choices as their mothers and grandmothers?

Michaud apparently subscribes to the absurd notion that it takes a village with government subsidies to raise a child. This approach has proved to be an abject failure for far too long. The single-parent construct is both selfish and destructive to society.

Perhaps the 1 percent can insulate a child from the financial hardships of single parenthood, but most cannot escape the harsh economic reality of child poverty indicated by the statistics cited by Michaud.

Monica Koch Walsh, West Hempstead