Pence aims to protect 'intact' families

Gov. Mike Pence signed an order calling for family impact statements from relevant administrations as part of the executive orders he signed on his first day in office.

Family impact statements will force certain state administrations to assess the impact any new regulation or legislation may have on intact, married families.

Kara Brooks, Pence’s press secretary, said in an email Pence believes an intact family is one of the surest guards against poverty, and so on his first day in office he signed an executive order requiring certain state agencies to develop family impact statements to ensure that new rules and regulations do not unfairly impact married, two-parent families.

The email also stated “nothing in this approach to preventing poverty diminishes in any way the heroic job single parents do raising their children every day in Indiana. But with 22 percent of our children living in poverty, given the undeniable relationship between childhood poverty and unmarried childbearing, Indiana should seek ways to encourage strong, healthy families for our kids, our communities and our state.”

Pence said on his campaign website that one of his policy goals is “to put the family at the center of Indiana’s effort to improve the social and economic prospects of all Hoosier children, with a special focus on children facing life’s greatest challenges.”

Issuing an executive order requiring all relevant state agencies to draft a family impact statement when they adopt new rules and regulations is listed under his policy steps.
Marni Lemons, a representative for Family And Social Services Administration, said in
an email, “we plan to comply with the executive order.”

— Anu Kumar