Contact: Nicole Kooistra, 815-964-5819, nicole@profam.org; Larry Jacobs, 815-222-2490, media@profam.org

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Are declining birth and marriage rates due to Americans' long-ignored desire to seek greater personal happiness and professional fulfillment?  Or would more men and women choose to stay married and have more children if our divorce laws were more stringent, our tax codes more family-friendly, and our wages more supportive of a single-earner family?  Scholars have long debated the role of public policy in sustaining family structure.  While most believe it to be a mere reflection of current social realities, some -- like the editors and writers of The Family in America -- argue that public policy is a driving force behind the breakdown of the family.

Join the editors of The Howard Center's quarterly, The Family in America: A Journal of Public Policy, on Capitol Hill on Friday, December 7 for a symposium addressing the question: "Demography and Public Policy: Can the Right Policy Mix Reverse Family Breakdown?"  Presenters will be Dr. Allan Carlson, President of the Howard Center for Family, Religion, & Society and Editor of The Family in America, and Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, founder and President of The Ruth Institute.  Respondents will be Dr. Charles Murray, bestselling conservative author most recently of Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, and David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times.  The symposium will be held from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. in the Capitol Hill Visitors Center, room 201.  The event is free and open to the public, and lunch will be provided. To register, call Nicole Kooistra at (815) 964-5819 or email Nicole@profam.org.

The Family in America is the nation's hardest-hitting journal of family policy research, bold argument, and clear-sighted analysis.  Recent issue themes have included: "The Vanishing American Middle Class" (spring 2012), "A Reassessment of the 1950's" (summer 2012) and "The Family and Poverty" (fall 2012).

For more information or to subscribe to The Family in America, go to www.familyinamerica.org.  To register for this free event, please call Nicole Kooistra at (815) 964-5819 or email Nicole@profam.org.

For interview requests contact Larry Jacobs at the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, in Rockford, Illinois, 815-964-5819, larry@profam.org.

The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society (www.profam.org) is located in Rockford, Illinois and is an independent, non-profit research and education center that provides sound scholarship and effective strategies to affirm and defend the natural family, thus renewing a stable and free society.  The Howard Center is the publisher of the journal, “The Family In America” and is also the organizer of the World Congress of Families (WCF) project which is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and inter-faith people of goodwill from more than 80 countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the ‘seedbed’ of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948).  The WCF was founded in 1997 by Dr. Allan Carlson, President of The Howard Center.  To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009).  World Congress of Families VI was held in Madrid, Spain in May 25-27, 2012.  World Congress of Families VII  will be held in Sydney, Australia, May 15-18, 2013, www.wcfsyndney2013.org.au.