A focus on families

The center has become a major sponsor and participant in worldwide gatherings of like-minded groups, among them the World Congress of Families, which drew thousands of participants to Mexico City in 1994. A regional meeting of the World Congress was scheduled to be held in the Delta Center this weekend, but organizers postponed it.

Loveless said the center's greatest accomplishment has been its partnership with the government of Qatar, which approached them in 2003 to help put on a series of conferences that culminated in what is known as the Doha Declaration in 2004. The document, co-sponsored by 149 nations, was recognized by the U.N. General Assembly, providing a significant shield for family policy internationally by acknowledging families as the "natural and fundamental group unit of society."

The BYU center pulled together scholars from around the world to provide social science research on the importance of family ties, supporting the issues that eventually made their way into the Doha Declaration.

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