Because the seven values are permanently innate to our DNA and underwrite all human motivation, people have an almost intuitive awareness of what will help fulfill their needs. Because Clinic programs are created using these values as the criteria for their design, we can anticipate that people who are preparing to raise a family or already have children will be attracted to Clinic programs.

NOTE: “Love” is in quotation marks because love is the value-emotion that points to: Honesty, truthfulness, respect, loyalty, devotion, faithfulness, recognition, acceptance, appreciation, validation, discretion, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, authenticity, vulnerability, genuineness, listening, supporting, sharing, consulting, confiding, caring, tenderness and many more. These values constitute the operational definition of love. (Source: Sacred Relationships, A Guide to Authentic Loving, Daniel Raphael, 1999)

A new social institution. To fulfill the possibility of democratic societies becoming stable, peaceful, and eventually socially sustainable, a new social institution is needed that enculturates each new generation with the best practices of conscious and sustainable child rearing and parenting. Though one generation may learn these skills and pass them on to their children, there is no assurance that over generations those best practices will be retained. Because they are learned and not hereditary, they need to be intentionally refreshed in each new generation.

The mission of Clinics for Sustainable Families is to provide a permanent resource in each community for that service. Its interest is in the enculturation of socially sustainable child rearing and parenting practices. The work of the Clinics is to support the capability of caring and nurturing parents who are interested in their children growing into socially competent, responsible, and resourceful adults. Because the mission of the Clinics is to bring about social stability and eventually social sustainability without a religious, political, cultural, or ethnic bias, the work of the Clinics could be easily adopted by any social institution, organization, or agency with the altruistic mission to uplift the social condition of individuals, families, and communities.

NOTE: Simply by substituting the name of your altruistic organization for the word “Clinic” in the text you will find that this paper can be applied to churches, counseling centers, spiritual centers, spiritual metaphysical centers (Unity and Centers for Spiritual Living, for example), and many others. These materials do not prescribe a certain position or allegiance, but are neutral for the benefit of everyone.

The social benefit of these programs will become apparent when we see their effectiveness for more than one generation: Parents will have happier and more contented children, parents will be more confident because they are seeing their children become happier, more contented, and socially responsible. The family wins because the dynamics of the family are functional and constructive. The community and the larger society win because its citizens provide a more stable social existence. And lastly, society and all organizations are provided with future generations of socially functional decision-makers who are capable of devising options, choices, decisions, and courses of implementation that support families and communities.