The Pence Family Plan
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence has unveiled a policy proposal he says will protect children, strengthen Indiana’s families and thus help the state’s economy.
In a news release issued Pence proposed, where relevant, agencies will provide a Family Impact Statement on any new rules or regulations they propose, much like the current requirement to provide a cost-benefit analysis. The impact statement would address questions such as
- Does the proposed regulation increase or decrease family income?
- Does the proposed regulation support or inhibit family formation?
- Does the proposed regulation respect or inhibit the right of parents to raise their children?
In addition, Pence says he support families by promoting adoption and foster parenting by offering those children the broadest possible range of educational options. He is proposing removing all income restrictions for school scholarships for adoptive parents, and called for adopted and foster children to receive the largest possible state scholarships.
Pence also stepped into the realm of the Indiana Department of Child Services, which has come under fire as of late. He says he would create a task force to improve inter-agency and state-local coordination of child services and to address any issues with the DCS hotline.
In addition he would offer enhanced training to teachers and law enforcement to help identify more children who are victims or at risk of becoming victims of child abuse and neglect.
Pence made it a point to say that his plan is not an attack on single-parents nor a judgment on those who have gone through divorce. Instead he says his plans is based on decades of social science research that children tend to do best when they grow up in intact households and that he argues, leads to a healthy economy.
