Although Gov. Sean Parnell spent nearly three hours visiting with two religious non-profits and a third group in Colorado on the state's dime early last month, details of the trip offered by his office thus far can be summed up in just one sentence:

 

The governor flew more than 3,000 miles with his wife, security guard and a staffer to discuss foster care reform and his newly launched anti-domestic violence and sexual assault campaign.

There is no doubt that the amount of family and sexual violence in Alaska is unacceptably high. But just what advice the governor may have received during the visit to Colorado Springs to help end those ills is unclear.

In addition to visiting with Focus on the Family's current leadership, travel records show Parnell spent 30 minutes acquainting himself with Rachel's Challenge, a nonprofit that promotes compassion and nonviolence in schools and places of work, and that he also stole a few moments with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, known for his passionate and sometimes extreme approach to advocating for the ministry's conservative Christian beliefs. In May, Dobson, who has left Focus on the Family, launched Family Talk, a radio broadcast picking up where his vocal tenure at Focus on the Family left off. The new effort is on the front lines of a culture war, fighting government policies "that are increasingly hostile to families and are contradictory to biblical moral principles," according to a statement on the Family Talk website. Current battle targets include publicly funded abortions, efforts to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and the expiration of Bush-era tax reductions for married couples.

Dobson was unavailable to discuss or offer details about his meeting with Parnell. But a Focus on the Family representative who spent time with the governor later that same day offered some perspective on the trip.

"(Focus on the Family spends) a lot of time thinking and talking about how families can thrive," explained Focus on the Family vice president Tom Minnery Sr., who was in attendance when Parnell met with the group in Colorado. "I think (Parnell) saw us of being of similar mind."

Parnell played a video for the group about his Choose Respect campaign, which impressed Minnery (a distant cousin of Alaska Family Council president Jim Minnery) and the other Focus on the Family leadership, including current president Jim Daly.

"I don't know that we've seen that kind of creativity elsewhere," Minnery said of the sweeping statewide initiative. "Sometimes by a government leader shining a spotlight on a particular problem it brings attention to that problem, and I hope that's the case in Alaska."

Parnell and Daly share a deep commitment to the wellness of families, a commitment shaped by their  personal experiences. Parnell speaks of an abusive, alcoholic grandfather and Daly spent time in foster care. Focus on the Family is dedicated to helping families thrive, striving for homes in which children are lovingly raised by a married mom and dad. Making broken families whole is a major focus of the group's current mission. "We have been active in trying to encourage families around the country to adopt foster children and that's one of the projects that we have here to try to make families whole and put children in family environment," Minnery said.