1/6 “FOREWORD — SENATOR RICK SANTORUM”
There has been an alarming growth of federal government power in recent years. This has diminished the role of individual states. It has diminished the role of civil society. Federal government growth has coincided with the demise of social capital and a lack of trust among citizens and our institutions.
Yet this current administration appears to want to exert even more control—too often sounding like it wants to take responsibility for the raising of America’s children. No. Parents are responsible for raising their children, not the government. What American families need is for the government to get out of the way. An incoming Administration must focus urgently on rebuilding social capital. This is why I have been glad to support the work of the Social Capital Campaign—putting together a plan to rebuild America’s social capital from the bottom up.
As we look at the state of America’s youth, the landscape is concerning. Half of adolescents in America have had a mental health disorder at some point in their lives. 15 percent of high school students have used illicit or injection drugs like heroin. Anxiety and depression increased by 63 percent among 18-30 year-olds between 2005 and 2017. The number of homicides committed by children under 14 in 2020 was the highest in twenty years, while 1 in 3 teenagers in the U.S. is a victim of teen dating violence.
What are the solutions? In this report, Chris Bullivant has outlined the importance of the early years and the need not just for policy, but for society more widely to reassess how we invest better in 0–3-year-olds. Most importantly, whether attachment theory and the opportunities for mothers of all backgrounds to bond with their children is the most fundamental, yet most neglected, building block of social capital in America today.
For now, America is one of the most hostile countries to allowing bonding to take place between mother and child. It also reports higher maternal mortality than other developed nations, despite having the second most expensive cost of child birth in the world. We have the least generous national government support of young families so that 1 in 4 mothers return to work in America two weeks after giving birth—yet most mothers want to be able to stay at home to look after their children in the early years. America is an outlier in its lack of support for the early years.
Senator Rick Santorum
Social Capital Campaign Advisory Board
“The Early Years - Youth Investment”
Chris Bullivant
June 2023
Building social capital starts with 0-3s, and that first attachment with mom.
