This report explores the decline in marriage in the United States over the past five decades, the impact on children, and President’s initiatives for encouraging marriage. It begins by reviewing evidence showing that marriage is associated with better health, higher earnings, and greater wealth among adults as well as with academic success and mental health among children. It states that while the evidence shows that the differences between children reared by married biological parents and children reared by only one biological parent are modest in percentage terms, the small differences translate into large numbers when applied to the entire population of children. Reasons for the decline in marriage rates are explained, and the movement towards government involvement in improving family stability is discussed. Federal initiatives for including marriage education in social services programs are described, as well as characteristics of marriage education programs. Features of the administration’s approach to promoting healthy marriages are described and include large-scale research on marriage education and the development of a model for marriage education. The model includes three main components: marriage education (or relationship skills enhancement), linkage to services, and coordinators who work on a continuing basis with couples and who coordinate services. Funding of the research component and State demonstration programs is considered, and the need to identify effective programs for funding and to evaluate funded programs is discussed. The report closes by emphasizing the need to address domestic violence to reverse the course of marriage dissolution. 6 references.