Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner, February 12, 2015

A comprehensive survey of U.S. Census data finds that the nuclear American family, where both biological parents are at home, is in meltdown, with blacks teens being hit especially hard with less than 2-in-10 15-17-year-olds living with mom and dad.

The survey from the Family Research Council’s Marriage and Religion Research Institute released Thursday also shows a depressing historical roadmap of the breakup of traditional families, a trend the group fears will continue unless marriage “until death do us part” is revived.

Key highlights from the “Fifth Annual Index of Family Belonging and Rejection” provided in advance to Secrets:

— 46 percent of teens 15-17 have grown up with the biological parents, an all-time low from a high of 63 percent in 1950.

— Just 17 percent of black teens live with their nuclear family, another all-time low and down from 38 percent in 1950.

— 54 percent of white kids aged 15-17 grew up with their biological family intact, a low point and down from 67 percent in 1950.

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The fifth annual survey also charted when families appear to break up, typically over time and as their children get older. For example, 75 percent of white two-year-olds in 2012 lived with their biological parents, but by age 17, that was down to 52 percent.

For blacks, the survey of Census data showed that black kids typically start out in broken homes, with just 30 percent of black two-year-olds living with their parents, dropping to 17 percent at age 17.