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Author Archives: William C. Duncan
Alimony, audits and adoption: family issues heard during Utah interim meetings
Tweet During last week’s interim day meetings, the legislature heard three family issues. The Judiciary Interim Committee listened to testimony about reforming alimony (brought to the Committee by Representative Fred Cox, R-West Valley City) which has been a Sutherland Institute … Continue reading
Utah could take a lesson from Chris Christie on surrogacy
Tweet On Aug. 8, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did the right thing in vetoing a bill that would have allowed adults to contract with one another so that one would carry a child to term for money and then … Continue reading
How sound marriage laws enhance liberty
Tweet A sincere question often raised in the debate over the definition of marriage is whether it is appropriate for government to be in the marriage business at all. For those of us who believe in the principle of limited … Continue reading
Playing chicken with religious liberty
Tweet Hopefully many readers have been to Chick-fil-A recently. After the company’s president expressed his belief that marriage is the union of a husband and wife, four big town mayors have threatened to prevent the company from doing business in … Continue reading
Rethinking unilateral divorce
Tweet The Deseret News has recently published an important series of articles (here and here) and an editorial on an issue that gets far less attention than it deserves — the serious consequences of our legal culture of divorce. The … Continue reading
Posted in Divorce
Tagged alimony, children, custody, deseret news, divorce, family, reconciliation
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The strings attached to federal welfare programs
Tweet When you receive an email “informing” you that you’ve won a lottery you never entered, or that a widow from an exotic nation wants to give you the money from her deceased husband’s estate, do you reply? Some people … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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How is Utah’s child welfare system doing?
Tweet As we have reported, the Utah Legislature is reviewing an audit of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services. The Foundation for Government Accountability has just released a report with state rankings based on 11 different child outcomes. … Continue reading
Will California ‘split the child’?
Tweet The news is reporting on another troubling development from California, where the state Senate is considering a bill that would specifically allow the government to designate more than two “parents” for a child. Although radical, this idea is not … Continue reading
Parents’ rights in interim committee hearing
Tweet On Wednesday, June 20th, the Judiciary Interim Committee of the Legislature will hear testimony about the appropriate balance between protecting children at risk in their homes and preserving families. The study is part of an important bill, House Bill … Continue reading
Posted in Parental Rights
Tagged DCFS, Judiciary Interim Committee, parental rights, Utah Legislature
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Protect marriage, protect life
Tweet The small and brave contingent of the University Faculty for Life was in Utah recently for their annual conference hosted this year at Brigham Young University. My presentation examined the linkages between the deconstruction of marriage as a social … Continue reading
Posted in Abortion, Marriage
Tagged abortion, cohabitation, marriage, University Faculty for Life
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Groundbreaking Study on Alternative Families
Tweet This morning a reputable scholarly journal published two key studies that could unsettle some of the happy talk about alternative family forms. The studies have already been the subject of major stories in the Deseret News and Washington Times. Maggie … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Gay Rights
Tagged Dr. Loren Marks, Dr. Mark Regnerus, lesbian parents, same-sex parents
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Government is all too eager to displace your family
Tweet The great conservative sociologist Robert Nisbet notes: “It is the nature of both family and state to struggle for the exclusive loyalty of their respective, and overlapping, members.” (Robert Nisbet, Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary 110 [1982].) This struggle seems … Continue reading
Posted in Self-reliance
Tagged family, life of julia, Limited Government, self-reliance
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The judicial campaign against DOMA
Tweet Yesterday, a panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit (the federal appeals court that covers Massachusetts and some of the other Northeastern states as well as Puerto Rico) ruled the federal Defense … Continue reading
What’s the big rush to get divorced?
Tweet In the 2012 session, the Utah Legislature took a welcome baby step toward restoring moral seriousness to the state’s treatment of divorce by restoring the (very short) 90-day waiting period before filing and finalization. At the other end of … Continue reading
Children of the revolution
Tweet In a book review in The Family in America, I proposed an analogy: “Today’s young adults are undeniably well-off and thriving materially. They enjoy opportunities and resources unheard of, even among their boomer parents. In terms of family and … Continue reading