Children and Marriage

Children and marriage are part of the marriage ecosystem. Traditionally, marriage was the main way children were brought into the world and raised. There is much social science evidence supporting the idea that children do best when raised by their biological parents who are married to each other.

Our intention on these pages is to raise the issue of injustice as it relates to children. We rarely or never see this issue raised when talking about no fault divorce, artificial reproductive technology, and the like. Our belief is that many of the social changes made in the past 50 years are a tremendous injustice to children. Our society seemed to take a dramatic turn in the 1960s, with much emphasis being placed on self fulfillment, self esteem, reproductive rights, and so on. Have these changes resulted in greater justices to children, or greater injustices? We believe the latter.

On these pages we will address a variety of issues, such as:

  • Needs of children
  • Children's rights
  • Children of divorce
  • Attachment theory and attachment disorders
  • Maternal care vs. non maternal care
  • Stay at home moms
  • Career moms and day care
  • Children raised by other relatives
  • Child custody cases
  • Gay custody cases
  • Effects of polygamy and group marriage on children
  • Same sex parenting
  • Adoption
  • Donor conceived persons and artificial reproductive technology

About Marriage-Ecosystem.org, a project of the Ruth Institute

At the Ruth Institute, our mission is to educate students, young adults, academics, clergy, faith leaders, and anybody else interested in the importance of marriage. Marriage serves as a foundational part of our society; it's decline has contributed to many injustices and harms to children, and it's redefinition has and will contribute to many more. We hope that by reading these pages, you'll understand why we think of marriage as an ecosystem, and why we believe it should be treated as we would treat other ecosystems: with care and respect.

If you like this site, please tell your friends!

Learn about Preserving the Ecosystem of Marriage.

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Inspiring People
to Defend
the Marriage Ecosystem

Our goal is to help everybody think about marriage in a new way, from a holistic, organic, and natural perspective. This perspective supports a free society for all, including future generations.

Personal reasons for marriage (such as love) are valid as personal reasons, but they serve as a poor foundation for public policies about marriage.

Donations from people like you help defend the ecosystem of marriage! Your tax-deductible donation gets you:

  • Our weekly e-newsletter, packed with information about the marriage movement
  • Our printed educational mailings, designed to keep you updated on important developments regarding marriage
  • Donations of $100-$999 receive our Ambassadors Packet, packed with educational materials about marriage, freedom and society.
  • Donations of $1,000 or more become Friends of Ruth and receive all of the above and more!

Donate at our main website, RuthInstitute.org:

Click here to donate



What are others reading?
Top pages are:

1. Part 5 of the Libertarian Case for Man/Woman Marriage: Marriage Laws & the Proper Role of the State

2. Part 3 of the Libertarian Case for Man/Woman Marriage: Gay Marriage Facts

3. Our page about Preserving the Ecosystem of marriage

4. Our page about how contraception harms the marriage ecosystem

5. Part 1 of the Libertarian Case for Man/Woman Marriage, Definition of Marriage



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