The Outstater

June 15, 2026

Alternative Families by the Numbers

THE GOVERNOR is getting grief over declaring June “Nuclear Family Month.” Does he think there’s something wrong with non-nuclear families? Well, there’s a two-part answer to that, and some aren’t going to like the second part.

First, let’s acknowledging that raising a family, any family, is a heroic endeavor. Raising a family as a single parent is especially so when it comes with the emotional throes of a divorce. One kind of family does not diminish another.

There are however, distinctions.

As a member of the “Silent Generation” (1928-1945), I grew up with friends whose fathers had been killed in World War II. Without exception, despite the obvious hardship on young mothers who suddenly and unexpectedly lost their husbands, those friends were admirable individuals. They stood out in my high school class. 

I have a theory about that. Suppose fate gave those classmates a lesson in character and personal responsibility. Suppose their mothers taught them that without a father they were going to have to buckle down to overcome a clear disadvantage in life.

That, please know, is quite different from what advocates of today’s “alternative families” are telling the governor. They are saying there is nothing special about a nuclear family, the implication being that fathers are optional. A Nuclear Family Month, therefore, is nonsense if not insult. This from an Indianapolis Star columnist:

“Mike Braun has no business telling my family we’re less (than another family). The nuclear family ideal is a mid-century relic. Indiana’s families deserve better than a governor who won’t see them.”

And Polly Crozier, director of Family Advocacy, GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, added this: ”It is just so incredibly petty — to take the month that has been recognized for over 50 years by millions of people all over the country and use it to put some families ahead of others, it is just petty and it’s hurtful.”

Which brings us to the second part. Fifty years ago when we first began hearing versions of Polly’s argument, it sounded odd but there was no ready data. One had to grant it was possible, although implausible, that certain if not all of the crazy alternative models, given enough love and empathy, might compare favorably with the one that had prevailed for at least 4,000 years.

But now we have data. It says that as a social experiment alternative-model families are problematic for offspring, Hollywood being a locus of anecdotal evidence. I asked my assistant, Grok, to run the numbers nationally. Let’s look at just one set of data, i.e., economic outcomes:

• Poverty rates (2021 U.S. Census data): 9.5 percent of children in two-parent heterosexual nuclear families lived below the poverty line, versus 31.7 percent in other families (over 3x higher). For single-mother homes specifically: 35.0 percent; single-father: 17.4 percent.
• Recent figures (2022–2024): Single-mother families ~27–28 percent poverty rate (versus ~5–6 percent for married-couple families); single-parent families overall ~4x higher than married-couple.
• Children in single-parent homes are ~4x more likely to live in poverty overall.
• Social stigma is not an explanation. Alternative families make up the overwhelming majority of  households.

Moreover, population statistics and rigorous studies indicate measurable advantages, on average, for children in stable nuclear families across all of life’s key domains — physical health, education, crime, emotional behavior. That means Polly and the GLBTQ crowd may be proud of their month but the governor can be as proud of his. It’s a matter of expectations. — tcl

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