R.I. Gen. Laws § 15-18-1: Legislative findings.

The general assembly finds and declares that:

(1) An increasingly large percentage of children in this state live in single parent households;

(2) Almost one-half (½) of single parent households have income below the poverty level;

(3) In excess of forty thousand (40,000) children in the state are receiving state aid through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program;

(4) Children in families where parents are separated or divorced are at greater risk of economic deprivation than in two (2) parent families.