Divorce Rate Essay

Broken marriages touch virtually every family and every American. Every state should enact a divorce counseling law that requires married couples to go through counseling before being granted a separation or divorce. This policy could potentially save many viable marriages.

The rate of divorce in America is high, data has been gathered by various organizations and some show Americas divorce rate to be as high as 50%. Data from most organizations reveal that this figure is very close to accurate. According to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri. 50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce. (Baker) Divorce rates during the last few decades have dropped. Data reveals that compared to marriages in the 1990's, marriages today are lasting longer. Experts do not believe this is because divorce rates have dropped but because less couples are choosing marriage and prefer a live-in relationship. America is rated 6 in the worlds divorce rate. Divorce is a traumatic experience for most of the couples and can leave emotional scars that last a lifetime.

"The public cost of divorce is really not talked about much," Mike McManus, co-chair of Marriage Savers and author or Marriage Savers: Helping Your Friends and Family Avoid Divorce, declared. He estimated the public cost of divorce from Medicaid, food stamps, housing subsidies and other federal and state programs is $25,000 per divorce. (McManus) This means that in the state of Texas alone divorces cost taxpayers approximately $1,922,500,000 in 2009. There were almost 77,000 divorces in Texas in 2009 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. (Census).

There are people who will unhappily stay in a ...

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...ld potentially save the couple from making a mistake that they could regret later.

If after counseling the couple is still unable to save their marriage, the skills the couple has learned from an individual standpoint could help the behavior of couples in the court room. It could also teach couples the communication skills they need to dissolve their marriage with out a judge, and instead agree to the terms of the divorce in mediation. This would also save the tax payers money. Required marriage counseling would also teach the skills needed in any future relationships, potentially keeping the same people out of the divorce courts a second or third time. Every state should enact a divorce counseling law that requires married couples to go through counseling before being granted a separation or divorce. This law could save many marriages, and save tax payers money.