RELEASE ON RECEIPT





Should Policies Shape Families or Families Shape Policy?
CONFERENCE TO PROBE LAWMAKERS' ROLES IN FAMILY LIFE

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 25 -- Covenant marriages.  Tougher divorce 
laws.  Welfare reform.  Such ideas reflect legislative actions designed to 
make and keep families intact.  But what role should lawmakers have in 
dictating family structure?
	That provocative question will be explored during "The Future of 
Families: Should Families Shape Policy or Should Policy Shape Families?" 
conference Nov. 12-14 at the University of Virginia's School of Law.
	During the conference, experts in law, public policy and sociology 
will debate how policy makers should react to dramatic changes in American 
family structure.  Designed to present contrasting points of view, the 
conference will consider three key areas: marriage, divorce, remarriage, and 
cohabitation; poverty and welfare reform; and family law.
	"Should our policies support families in trouble due to non-marital 
childbirth, divorce and poverty?  Or does such support only encourage parents 
to abandon their responsibilities to children?" asked Robert E. Emery, a 
psychology professor and director of U.Va.'s Center for Children, Families 
and the Law, which is sponsoring the conference.
	William Galston, director of the University of Maryland's Institute 
for Philosophy and Public Policy and a former deputy assistant to President 
Clinton for domestic policy, will give the conference's opening address on 
Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. in Caplin Auditorium.  In a speech that is free 
and open to the public, Galston will describe the needs of the American family.
	During the remainder of the conference, speakers will present two 
contrasting points of view: those who believe government should support 
single-parent families and those who don't.  On Thursday morning, Andrew 
Cherlin, the Griswold Professor of Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University, 
and David Popenoe, a sociology professor at Rutgers University, will discuss 
the consequences of marriage, divorce, remarriage and cohabitation on 
children. Cherlin, author or co-author of five books and numerous articles on 
American families, is a firm believer that government should support policies 
that aid single-parent families, and Popenoe, executive director of the 
National Marriage Project at Rutgers and author of "Life Without Father," 
does not hold that view.
	In the afternoon, Sara McLanahan, a professor of sociology and public 
affairs at Princeton University who directs the Bendheim-Thoman Center for 
Research on Child Wellbeing, and June O'Neill, an economist and director of 
the Congressional Budget Office, will address families, poverty and welfare 
reform. McLanahan, author of "Growing Up With a Single Parent:  What Helps, 
What Hurts," believes in legislative support for single-parent families.
	In the concluding session on Friday morning, Katherine Bartlett, a 
law professor at Duke University, and Amitai Etzioni, a University Professor 
at George Washington University, where he founded the Center for Policy 
Research, will address divorce and family law.  Etzioni does not
believe in governmental support for single-parent families.
	"Recent legislative actions suggest a basic shift in social policy 
from reacting to and supporting the needs of changing families to attempting 
to proactively shape families in the hopes of lowering their need for public 
support," said Emery.
	He directs a center that works to promote informed policy and public 
understanding of family issues.  Because of that mission, the conference has 
been designed for a diverse group that includes attorneys, psychologists, 
policy makers, social workers and the public.
	Registration for Thursday and Friday sessions costs $50.  For more 
information, contact the center at (804) 982-4991 or via 
ccfl@minerva.acc.virginia.edu.  Conference information can also be obtained 
on the Web at http://www.virginia.edu/~ccfl.

					###

                                                           October 24, 1997


            For more information, Robert Emery is at (804) 924-0671 or 
ree@virginia.edu.  Television reporters should contact our TV News Office at 
(804) 924-7550.