CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · History & Society

Focus on the Family

American fundamentalist Christian organization

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ1435085
Source-derived summary

Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is an American evangelical Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s. As of the 2017 tax filing year, Focus on the Family declared itself to be a church, "primarily to protect the confidentiality of our donors". Traditionally, churches are entities that have regular worship services and congregants.

It prominently lobbies against LGBT rights—including those related to marriage, adoption, and parenting—labeling it a "particularly evil lie of Satan". The organization also seeks to change public policy in the areas of sex education, creationism, abortion, state-sponsored school prayer, gambling, drugs, and enforcement of their interpretation of proper gender roles.

The core promotional activities of the organization include the flagship daily radio broadcast hosted by its president Jim Daly together with co-host John Fuller. Focus also provides free resources in line with the group's views, and publishes books, magazines, videos, and audio recordings.

The organization produces programs for targeted audiences, such as Adventures in Odyssey, McGee and Me!, The Last Chance Detectives, and Ribbits! for children, and dramas for other audiences.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Focus on the Family” as american fundamentalist Christian organization. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Focus, Family and American.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1977, 2017—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1977. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Focus, Family and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Focus on the Family”, the useful work is to connect “american fundamentalist Christian organization” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1435085. VIAF identifies the subject as 187057668. The Library of Congress control number is n93800954. Authority coordinates are 38.963, -104.789. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1977 and 2017.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Focus on the Family”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Focus on the Family primary sources, Focus on the Family archive and Focus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Focus on the Family”?
  2. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Focus on the Family” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.