Awards

Stengthening Alabama Families

6/14/2007

Dr. Francesca Adler-Baeder Receives Award
from the Alabama Fatherhood Initiative


Dr. Francesca Adler-Baeder of Auburn received the Strengthening Alabama Families Award from the Alabama Fatherhood Initiative (AFI) in Montgomery at a June 14 meeting in Montgomery. Dr. Adler-Baeder is Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn University. She and fourteen other award recipients were recognized for their special contributions and their commitment to the goals of the Alabama Fatherhood Initiative (AFI). The AFI is a network of agencies and organizations that assists non-custodial parents in enhancing their ability to provide financial support to their children. It also encourages non-custodial parents to be involved in their childrens lives in a nurturing, constructive way.
The community-based organizations being honored have operated exemplary fatherhood programs, and the public officials being recognized have provided outstanding leadership in the development of programs to support father involvement and strengthen families. The individuals being honored are program participants who have demonstrated dedication and determination in pursuing the goals of the programs in which they are enrolled.
Through Dr. Adler-Baeders leadership efforts, the Auburn University College of Human Sciences was awarded an $8.2 million grant from the U. S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support the work of the Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative (ACHMI). The ACHMI is a partnership with Auburn University, the Childrens Trust Fund of Alabama, eleven Family Resource Centers, and Mental Health Centers who have joined together to build and sustain healthy relationships and stable marriages throughout Alabama.

Specifically, the grant aims to strengthen family bonds by:

Raising public awareness about the importance of healthy marriages for children, family, and community well-being
Increasing access to healthy marriage resources
Training community members and professionals in research-based programs that strengthen relationships and marriages

The negative impact of broken homes and absent fathers is well documented Studies have shown that children who live without their biological fathers are, on average, at least two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience health, educational, or behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse and to engage in criminal activity.

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Governor's Proclamation

2/7/2007

Alabama Great Seal
STATE OF ALABAMA


Office of the Governor


BOB RILEY
Governor
 







Press Office

 
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Healthy Marriage Month
By the Governor of the State of Alabama
A Proclamation

February 02, 2007


WHEREAS, Marriage is not just another lifestyle choice but the foundation of healthy families and a healthy future for America; and

WHEREAS, Marriage, in every known human society, creates new families, binds men and women together in a network of affection, mutual aid, and mutual obligation, commits parents to their children, and connects children to a wider network of welcoming kin. Marriage is the outward, visible sign of a man and a woman’s desire to create a lasting love, and forge a tie so strong that a child’s heart can rely upon it; and

WHEREAS, Mounting scientific evidence confirms that children raised outside of marriage are more likely to commit crime, to fail at school and on the job, to abuse drugs, to lapse into physical and mental illness, to become teen parents, to suffer material deprivation, and perhaps saddest of all, to become the victims of child abuse; and

WHEREAS, Marriage as an institution deserves our special respect and concern because healthy marriages create a way for children to enjoy the full emotional, moral and financial protection of both parents; and

WHEREAS, We recognize the special place of marriage in American society and in American hearts; and

WHEREAS, We honor marriage as the extraordinary vow that ordinary people make and guide their lives by every day; and

WHEREAS, We acknowledge the irreplaceable importance of lasting, healthy marriages to the well-being of children and therefore, to the future of our nation; and

WHEREAS, We wish to applaud and encourage efforts by our state and local governments, our faith communities and by leaders of civil society to strengthen marriages:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Bob Riley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby proclaim February 2007, as

Healthy Marriage Month

in the State of Alabama.

Given Under My Hand and the Great Seal of the Office of the Governor at the State Capitol in the City of Montgomery on the 2nd day of February 2007.

Governor Bob Riley