According to Matt Cherry and Molleen Matsumura, editors for Free Inquiry magazine, “Families are not static, nor is the world around them. . . . Genuine support for families means constantly and flexibly re-examining the relationship between family and society in the lives of free, responsible individuals.”

Indeed, the concept of family has changed considerably since the 1960s. The entire Western world has seen social changes such as increasing numbers of women in the workplace and rising divorce rates. One of the most significant changes in family structure is the increase in single parent families. Since 1970, the number of children living in single parent homes doubled. In 1998, 26 percent of all families with children were headed by a single parent. Unfortunately, as single parent families have increased, so too have poverty rates.

The United States has the highest poverty rate of any developed...