Elizabeth, you brought up something that has been troubling me lately. In 2005, there were 4.1 million babies bornin the US. According to the birth certificates 37% of those babies were born out of wedlock. That is alot of babies. My guess is that if they were out of wedlock, they were unplanned. I do not want to get into the debate of abortion, but more of responsiblility. Read the vital statistics section of the Butler Eagle and see how many announcements of births include unmarried couples. Things have changed quite a bit. Years ago, families would have never announced publicly in the Butler Eagle that a child was born out of wedlock.

I would be interested to see information on how many children gather assistance in Butler County. In addition, I would like to see statistics on how many children are in foster care. I have a friend who has taken in three children as a foster parent. The birth mother continues to get pregnant once a child is removed from her care. It infuriates me. I know that she is probably not the only person who does this. Most people are hard working, tax paying citizens. I believe in helping those less fortunate, but somehow we need to stop the cycle of generations that depend on assistance. Any thoughts?