Statewide Chair Mary McLellan Heritage Community Services Regional Chairs Mariscia Cooper (Pee Dee) Charlie Lybrand (Lowcountry) Lenna Neill (Upstate) Rev. Randy Riddle (Grand Strand) Dr. Roger Rollins (CSRA) Charlotte Valentine-Green (Ace Basin)   Advisory Council Eugene Bacote Sumter School Dist.17 Dr. Vera Bailey Hilton Head Preg. Care Center Pamela Berry Colleton Fire and Rescue Dr. Vonda Calcutt Lowcountry Ctr. Diabetes Sen. Chip Campsen Charleston/Berkeley Rev. Chuck Coward Charleston Outreach Robin Crosby Colleton County Ligure Ellington Ret.Capt. Charleston City Police Dr. Randy Goings Chiropractic Physician Faye Hill Lowcountry Pregnancy Center & SC Association Pregnancy Care Centers WC Hoecke Fatherhood Practioner Leroy Lewis Upward Bound at Cof C Norman L. Moore, Jr. Colonel, USAFR(Ret) Cyndi Mosteller Comm. for Higher Education Alexia Newman Carolina Pregnancy Center Fred Payne Marriage Savers of Upstate Jerry & Barbara Seymour R& R Marriage Min. Ronald Shoupe Colleton County Dr. A. V. Strong A Better Way, Inc. (Gang Out) Dr. Robert Thomas Pulmonary Medicine Pastor Phil Thrailkill St. Luke UMC Hartsville Kelly Walker Upstate Fatherhood Coalition	July 31, 2009 SC Healthy Family Formation Coalition E-News!   Once again, South Carolina is at the bottom of the heap for child well-being.  The 2009 Kids Count Data Bookis available and our state shows little progress for the past 20 years.   The lack of money for good jobs, education and health is again held up as the solution to our problems. However, attempts to subsidizing the consequences of poor life style choices rather than preventing those unhealthy choices, is a bottomless money pit.    Taxpayers already spend at least $500 million each year to prop up fragmented families in our state. (The Taxpayer Cost of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing) South Carolina needs bold leadership to address the importance of family structure in our politically correct society.  We all know people from less than ideal families that turned out just great. Yet in our zeal not to offend, are we hurting each other and our children by not promoting the healthiest life style choices? Research overwhelmingly supports that children living with two biological parents are healthier than children growing up in other family arrangements, regardless of income levels. Most of the Kids Count ten key indicators of child well-being can be connected to family structure.  In fact, influential Liberal and Conservative social scientists agree that family structure has more to do with child well-being than any other factors.  They agree that the healthy formation of families where children are raised by their own married biological parents is the ‘Gold Standard’.   So, why are our public policies NOT supporting the ‘best practices’ showing that within a healthy marriage and family, we can improve our children’s chances of: -being born healthy; -celebrating their first birthday; -enjoying childhood without being abused, neglected, or sexually   assaulted; -avoiding the consequences of sexual activity including STDs,   pregnancy, and depression; -graduating from high school and pursuing career goals; -escaping poverty and -benefiting from the emotional and mental stability of being   raised by two biological parents within a healthy marriage and family? The SC Healthy Family Formation Coalition educates and motivates our state to pursue the best for all children.  Settling for less is a disgrace to us all.   Affairs Don’t “Just” Happen By Julie Baumgarder, First Things First Every time I turn around it seems like I am hearing about another person in the middle of an affair.  Read more about Dangerous Liaisons…     Divorce takes health toll that remarriage can’t heal By Madison Park, CNN Divorce causes more than bitterness and broken hearts. The trauma of a split can leave long-lasting effects on mental and physical health that remarriage might not repair, according to research released this week. "People who lose a marriage take such damage to their health," said Linda Waite, a sociologist at the University of Chicago in Illinois.  Read more…     Best spouse will take the sink back By Cheryl Wetzstein Recent celebrity news says Jessica Simpson was dumped by her boyfriend, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, after he found text messages from an ex-boyfriend on her cell phone.  Read more about being trustworthy…
	The South Carolina Healthy Family Formation Coalition (SC HFF Coalition) is organized and staffed by Heritage Community Services. The SC HFF Coalition promotes child and family well-being by providing opportunities for statewide communication about such issues as: adolescent pregnancy, unwed childbearing, fatherlessness, sexual exploitation of our youth, dating violence and domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, gang activity and youth violence.    Coalition members support healthy family formation initiatives that integrate character-based life skills, teen pregnancy prevention with an emphasis on abstinence-centered education, and the importance of fidelity-within-marriage.   Together we can impact our culture so that forming healthy families becomes a norm, rather than the exception, for South Carolina. Please, forward this E-News to interested friends, family and colleagues and ask them to consider joining the Coalition. Join/Subscribe Unsubscribe PRIVACY POLICY: Information you share will never be sold, rented, or given to any third party. Contact Mary McLellan , Statewide Chairman (843)654-7740 ext.122