09 Jan
  • By timcooper
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First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage…Right? (How Do We Know If We’re Ready?)

This brief explains three important concepts that should be considered when an individual is deciding whether or not he or she is ready for marriage. Individuals are urged to understand what marriage is really about, examine the motivation to marry, and know a partner well. Questions are listed for individuals to explore in determining their […]

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09 Jan
  • By timcooper
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Getting Married (Again): Tips for Blending Families

It is exciting to get married. Marriage offers the opportunity to create a new family and new traditions. However, getting married when there are children involved can bring with it a new set of challenges and anxieties about making your relationship work successfully for a lifetime. Stepfamilies are very common, but creating one can be […]

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09 Jan
  • By timcooper
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My Partner Was Just Diagnosed With a Chronic Illness…Now What?

When one person in a couple is affected by a chronic illness, the other person lives with it as well–chronic illness is a family affair. The challenge lies in finding ways to address the illness as a team so that neither of you feels as if you are alone. Here are some tips to help […]

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09 Jan
  • By timcooper
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Rebuilding Trust in Your Marriage After an Affair

Successfully rebuilding trust after an extra-marital affair is possible but it can be difficult, lengthy and overwhelming. An affair can have a devastating effect on marriage and can be an agonizing crisis for a couple. Responses to the discovery or revelation of an affair range from sadness, shock, despair to anger, rage and confusion. It […]

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09 Jan
  • By timcooper
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The Building Strong Families Project: Strengthening Unmarried Parents’ Relationships

This report discusses findings from an evaluation of eight organizations that implemented the Building Strong Families (BSF) program, a program designed to teach relationship skills to unmarried, romantically-involved couples who were expecting or had recently had a baby. For the evaluation, over 5,000 interested couples were randomly assigned to either a BSF group that could […]

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09 Jan
  • By timcooper
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Understanding Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

The purpose of this Tip Sheet is to provide marriage and relationship education practitioners with an overview of TANF’s four goals so that they better understand how TANF can be used as a possible source of funding for healthy marriage and relationship services. It is important to note that TANF regulations vary by state and […]

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09 Jan
  • By timcooper
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The Building Strong Families Project: Implementation of Eight Programs to Strengthen Unmarried Parent Families

This report discusses the implementation of the Building Strong Families (BSF) program in eight organizations. The BSF project was launched in 2002 to develop, implement, and rigorously test voluntary interventions aimed at strengthening the families of unmarried couples with children. BSF programs were implemented by non-profit and public agencies at 12 locations in seven States, […]

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09 Jan
  • By timcooper
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What is the Healthy Marriage Field and What is a Healthy Marriage?

This brief explains the Healthy Marriage (HM) field that has its roots in marriage and relationship research and education in the 1950s and 1960s. The promotion of marriage and the reduction of out-of-wedlock childbearing as federal policy goals under the welfare reform legislation in 1996 is discussed, as well as the launch of the national […]

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