Earlier this week, former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy started an online petition calling on President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney to make fatherhood a more important issue in the campaign.
On the website for his organization, All-Pro Dad, Dungy urged the candidates in a post Monday to “put the issue of fatherhood at the forefront of our nation’s attention as you discuss issues publicly in the final stretch of this campaign.”
He also wrote, “Too many children are coming into the world without an involved father, while their mothers walk the path of parenthood alone. This is a problem that is defining a generation, and it is something we must address now.”
The post lists several statistics about fatherhood in the United States, including the fact that 24 million children currently do not live with their biological fathers.
Dungy’s organization, an extension of Family First, provides men with “every resource needed to rightly train up their children and give them a hopeful future,” according to the website.
The issue of parenthood has not been discussed in depth in either of the presidential debates, although Romney called for the need of two-parent households as a solution to violence when asked about the civilian use of automatic weapons.
The petition currently has 2,953 signatures.
Follow Ugonna on Twitter at @ugonnaokpalaoka