Is the American Family on the Brink of Collapse?
Jan 19, 2026 by FACT
The Heritage Foundation made its “first foray” into the family policy arena by releasing a 168-page report detailing the breakdown of the traditional family and suggesting a number of policy solutions to remedy the family and fertility crisis America faces today.
In 2024, the US fertility rate hit a record low of 1.59 births per woman – far below the requisite rate of 2.1 needed to maintain a steady population.
“If these trends continue as expected, deaths will outpace births within a decade, and the gap will widen non-linearly over the century,” the report explains. “Put plainly, the current future of America consists of far fewer Americans.”
The report traced the decline of the family back to two root causes from the 1960s: the “rapid growth of the welfare state incentivized unwed childbearing,” which was exacerbated by the second wave of feminism and the sexual revolution. Those factors led to “cultural upheavals that radically changed social norms around sex, sexuality, marriage, children, and gender roles.”
The report proposes several policy ideas for the federal government’s consideration, some of which are backed by success in other nations:
This policy would offer a refundable tax credit to traditionally married couples filing jointly who have at least one child. Each additional child would result in a 25% bonus to the credit, incentivising larger families.
“When it comes to childcare support, Congress has made a deliberate choice to privilege and subsidize out-of-home, marriage-agnostic, non-parental childcare, while not including or privileging at-home, married parent-provided childcare and child-raising,” the report explains.
To remedy that, Heritage proposes a Home Childcare Equalization tax credit available to traditionally married couples to incentivize at-home, parent-provided childcare and education.
The Newlywed Early Starters Trust (NEST) accounts would build upon Trump Accounts by depositing $2,500 into an account upon the birth of a child, where at least one of the married parents is a U.S. citizen.
“This will raise the incentive for children and young adults to learn financial literacy since every American would be born with some holdings of stock equity in the broader U.S. economy,” the report explained. “This could help to shift the perspectives of young Americans to see marriage as a cornerstone and not a capstone and to see themselves not just as workers, but as stockholders in the economy and, ultimately, in the future of their nation.”
Throughout the report, Heritage also suggested: “marriage bootcamps” hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services to help couples learn healthy conflict resolution; a “uniform day of rest” like the sabbath that would limit commercial activity and emphasize family, religion, and rest; social media restrictions for minors; and adoption tax credits.
Incentivizing traditional marriage and big families is in the best interest of America as a whole. Families shouldn’t be penalized for choosing to live their lives in accordance with biblical values – such as getting married before having kids – but the federal government’s current policies grant more benefits to unmarried and homosexual couples than those who choose the traditional route.
“Not only must the federal government stop actively punishing marriage; not only must it stop hindering the American Dream; it should also make up for the wholesale damage it has done to the family across generations,” the report instructs.
We hope our leaders in Washington seriously consider not just the policies put forth by the Heritage Foundation, but the principles at work behind them. Kids deserve to be raised by their married mother and father! Incentivising anything else does a disservice to the younger generations of this nation.
In 2024, the US fertility rate hit a record low of 1.59 births per woman – far below the requisite rate of 2.1 needed to maintain a steady population.
“If these trends continue as expected, deaths will outpace births within a decade, and the gap will widen non-linearly over the century,” the report explains. “Put plainly, the current future of America consists of far fewer Americans.”
The report traced the decline of the family back to two root causes from the 1960s: the “rapid growth of the welfare state incentivized unwed childbearing,” which was exacerbated by the second wave of feminism and the sexual revolution. Those factors led to “cultural upheavals that radically changed social norms around sex, sexuality, marriage, children, and gender roles.”
The report proposes several policy ideas for the federal government’s consideration, some of which are backed by success in other nations:
Policy Proposal 1: The Family and Marriage (FAM) Tax Credit
This policy would offer a refundable tax credit to traditionally married couples filing jointly who have at least one child. Each additional child would result in a 25% bonus to the credit, incentivising larger families.
Policy Proposal 2: The Home Childcare Equalization (HCE) Credit
“When it comes to childcare support, Congress has made a deliberate choice to privilege and subsidize out-of-home, marriage-agnostic, non-parental childcare, while not including or privileging at-home, married parent-provided childcare and child-raising,” the report explains.
To remedy that, Heritage proposes a Home Childcare Equalization tax credit available to traditionally married couples to incentivize at-home, parent-provided childcare and education.
Policy Proposal 3: Newlywed Early Starters Trust (NEST) Accounts
The Newlywed Early Starters Trust (NEST) accounts would build upon Trump Accounts by depositing $2,500 into an account upon the birth of a child, where at least one of the married parents is a U.S. citizen.
“This will raise the incentive for children and young adults to learn financial literacy since every American would be born with some holdings of stock equity in the broader U.S. economy,” the report explained. “This could help to shift the perspectives of young Americans to see marriage as a cornerstone and not a capstone and to see themselves not just as workers, but as stockholders in the economy and, ultimately, in the future of their nation.”
Throughout the report, Heritage also suggested: “marriage bootcamps” hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services to help couples learn healthy conflict resolution; a “uniform day of rest” like the sabbath that would limit commercial activity and emphasize family, religion, and rest; social media restrictions for minors; and adoption tax credits.
Incentivizing traditional marriage and big families is in the best interest of America as a whole. Families shouldn’t be penalized for choosing to live their lives in accordance with biblical values – such as getting married before having kids – but the federal government’s current policies grant more benefits to unmarried and homosexual couples than those who choose the traditional route.
“Not only must the federal government stop actively punishing marriage; not only must it stop hindering the American Dream; it should also make up for the wholesale damage it has done to the family across generations,” the report instructs.
We hope our leaders in Washington seriously consider not just the policies put forth by the Heritage Foundation, but the principles at work behind them. Kids deserve to be raised by their married mother and father! Incentivising anything else does a disservice to the younger generations of this nation.
“It matters how and to whom children are born. Society depends on men and women who want to form families, that is, who freely want to marry, and then freely bear and nurture children."
