If the Family Foundation has its way, there will be fewer opportunities for stepparent adoptions in Virginia. Not because they are against stepparent adoption, but because they are not all that fond of divorce and wish to pass new, strict laws to help preserve marriages, making it more difficult for couples to say “I don’t.”
A conservative organization, which believes that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, has already successfully campaigned against same sex marriage in Virginia, helping to pass a state constitutional amendment which specifically defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, has now formed its own commission to recommend new policies to the public in an attempt to help preserve the institution of marriage, and stop all of that nasty divorce stuff.
The commission has already met once in July, and plans for another closed meeting set for September 13th. Believing that the ‘no-fault’ divorce law in Virginia, which allows either spouse to initiate a divorce without cause, has left our society with a ratherlaissez faire attitude towards marriage, dismissing it as a life long bond, and something worth fighting for when times get rough.
So what exactly does this foundation think will solve the high divorce rate of one out of every two marriages? Prospective new policies include premarital counseling, and or marriage education intervention before couples could divorce. Which really seems to boil down to: it ‘aint over till they say it’s over.
Naturally, quite a few people out there have concerns with the idea of such strict, and not to mention expensive, divorce laws. Low income families may not be able to afford to meet all the legal requirements in order to achieve a divorce, leaving two people who no longer wish to be together, stuck together.
Let’s face it, some marriages are just not meant to be preserved, there are plenty of people out there who said “I do,” when they should have ran for the hills. Instead of making it harder to get divorced…why not educate the couples before they gett married? When a couple is new and in love, is when a couple will be willing to listen to how they can best suite the needs of their partner in a marriage, not when they hate each other enough to call it quits.
On the other hand, if they are totally speaking your VIrginian resident language, go here to their calendar of events to see when their next meet up is.
