Led by Dededo Mayor Melissa Savares and co-chaired by psychiatrist Dr. Juan Rapadas, the eight-member team, which also has a member from the Calvo-Tenorio camp and three community partners, cited a 2002 study of single parent families, which highlighted the special challenges some families faced such as earning an income that was less than $30,000 per year compared to families with two parents.
“Social scientists have found that children growing up in single-parent families are disadvantaged in other ways when compared to a two-biological-parent family. Many of these problems are directly related to the poor economic condition of single-parent families, not just to parenting style.”
Some of the risks for children in single-parent families include: lower levels of educational achievement, four times likely to need help for emotional and behavioral problems, more likely to participate in violent crime, and more likely to commit suicide.
Here on Guam, the facts presented in the study are “all too real,” according to the report.
In the last part of the study, it notes that even in a two-parent family, there are children reported to have a high level of anti-social behavior, especially if one parent is an abusive parent.
In addition, the report states that a person can easily get a divorce compared to the rest of the U.S. and the world. The island is also one of the easiest places to get an abortion.
“Our committee believed that we must publicize these and other statistics (family violence, suicide, teen pregnancies) that show how far Guam and some of its people have strayed from traditional family values and how we have devalued life over the past few decades,” states the report.
Some of the recommendations made to resolve these issues include expanding family preservation programs including the current Child Protective Services division.
Making the development of foster families and therapeutic foster families a priority is another recommendation in order to accommodate the 2,000 children on island who are in need of foster placement. Unfortunately there are only 12 certified foster homes.
Creating an islandwide pro-active one-stop center for couples and families in need of rudimentary counseling and general therapeutic help is something the committee believes would bring the family closer.
With regard to community-based services, the committee felt the administration should be a focus as well as a priority since it relates to social and community welfare. The committee cited medical and mental health, parks and recreation, youth and senior activities as examples.
“Directly related to the issue of community-based services, the government should study decentralizing government services,” states the report.
“The new administration should consider taking the power out of a few bureaucrats and administrators and put the power, money, and enforcement into the hands of the people that truly know what is really happening ‘on the ground’ and in the neighborhoods (e.g., the mayors, schools).”
Because of these problems and issues, a request has been made by the transition committee on community and social welfare for the new administration to be termed as the “Family Focused Administration” and for Gov. Eddie Baza Calvo be called the “Family Governor.”
