This year, nearly four of every 10 babies will be born outside of marriage. We know statistically and intuitively that, overall, children do not fare as well when their parents are divorced or never married. As a judge, I know that 65 percent of all civil cases heard in Georgia's superior courts involve issues regarding children and families.

We also know that in 2005, more than 14,000 children were in the care of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services; more than 2,500 were in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice; another 24,000 were in our state's youth jails. Many of these children's problems can be traced to growing up in broken homes or homes where their fathers never lived.

Now, for the first time in our nation's history, research has attempted to quantify the cost of family dysfunction to taxpayers.

On April 15, the Georgia Family Council and the Institute for American Values —- for which I serve on the board of directors —- released a national study showing that the total taxpayer cost of divorce and unwed childbearing is at least $112 billion annually. The cost to Georgia alone exceeds $1.46 billion. That equates to nearly 8 percent of our state's budget for 2007 and represents an annual cost of more than $400 per Georgia household. To put the figure in perspective, the combined budgets for the state departments of Corrections, Defense, Juvenile Justice, Public Safety, the GBI and the Board of Pardons and Paroles total $1.52 billion annually.

The report, called "The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing," is silent about how to reverse the growing trend of family breakdown. But it is clear that the cost to taxpayers is tremendous and must be addressed. Of course, this confirms what we already knew —- that healthy marriage is not only the best place to raise children, but also the indispensable institution without which all other social reform efforts will fail. Fortunately, here in Georgia policy-makers, judges and community organizations are embracing the fact that healthy and intact families are the cradle of thriving societies.

Obviously, many children raised in single-parent homes grow up to be happy, healthy, productive members of society. But the evidence shows that, all things being equal, a child is much better off growing up in a home with both married parents.

There are measures worth considering to reinvigorate the "culture of marriage" we once valued in this country. Some of the proposals that have been suggested include:

> elimination of all forms of marriage penalties in state tax and welfare systems;

> relationship, marriage and parenting education in schools;

> tax credits that encourage premarital counseling and counseling for struggling married couples;

> parenting education in child support programs;

> preparing prison inmates for re-entry into society as committed and competent parents.

These measures are only first steps. But they could produce dividends for Georgia and our nation by helping to improve the lives of generations to come.

> Leah Ward Sears is chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia.