A growing consensus confirms that divorce and unmarried childbearing generate high costs to children and taxpayers, including higher rates of poverty, welfare dependency, crime, school failure, Medicaid costs, mental illness, and child abuse. Even small reductions in rates of divorce and unmarried childbearing would carry a big payoff for children and for taxpayers. Research suggests that two kinds of government programming can be helpful in reducing these costs: 1) Programs to reduce unmarried childbearing (both by increasing the proportion of pregnant couples who decide to marry and by educating teens to delay pregnancy until marriage) and 2) Programs to reduce unnecessary divorce in at-risk couples and communities. (Author abstract, modified).