Developed by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), this technical assistance module explains how to form coalitions to support Community Healthy Marriage Initiatives (CHMI) designed to strengthen marriages and improve child well-being. The CHMI conceptual model involves combining the efforts of public and private social service agencies to inform couples and parents about resources […]
This report outlines President Bush’s Healthy Marriage Initiative. The proposed program would seek to increase healthy marriage by providing individuals and couples with: information on the value of marriage in the lives of men, women, and children; marriage-skills education that will enable couples to reduce conflict and increase the happiness and longevity of their relationship; […]
Children are increasingly born into cohabitating parent families, and past research based on children born 10 to 20 years ago suggests that children born to cohabitating parents experience greater family instability than children born to married parents. This study adds to the literature by analyzing three waves of the Fragile Families Study to examine family […]
Policymakers and researchers alike are debating whether marriage might be an antipoverty strategy for families with children. Some believe that if more parents married, there would be a substantial decrease in poverty. Others suggest that increasing the marriage rate among poor and near-poor parents, while not dramatically reducing poverty, would make a significant dent in […]
Many women who have experienced domestic violence are also involved with the child protection system (CPS). Most are poor, and a disproportionate number are women of color, both immigrant and U.S. born. Being involved with CPS can be frightening, overwhelming and confusing for them. This guidebook is intended for advocates working with women involved with […]
Approximately one-third of all infants are born to parents who are not married. Families in which the parents are cohabitating or living separately are considered to be fragile and at risk of dissolution and poverty. This report highlights findings from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and the Time, Love, Cash, Caring, and Children […]
As the Bush Administration’s “”compassionate conservatism”” agenda evolves simultaneous to debate on key legislation impacting families, there has been widespread debate and promotion of the Healthy Marriage Initiative. Marriage promotion initiatives and commissions on marriage are forming across the country as legislation such as the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Act, Child Support Enforcement Act, […]
This paper reports findings from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine union formation among unmarried parents who have just had a child together. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the effects of economic, cultural/interpersonal, and other factors on whether parents are romantically involved living apart, cohabitating, married to each other, or […]
A considerable number of contemporary Americans have deep reservations about their prospects for marriage, the quality of a marriage they might enter, and the odds that their marriage will last. Some even raise concerns that marriage can be a trap and can expose women to domestic violence. Despite these divergent views and concerns, there is […]
To investigate the family support needs of Iowa citizens, the Iowa Fatherhood, Marriage and Family Supports Advisory Group conducted 25 focus groups involving over 250 adults. This resulting report discusses themes that were prevalent during these focus groups and presents the following recommendations for family support services: (1) lift up the importance of the family; […]