Strengthening and Promoting the Formation of Healthy Families

Current policy debates about welfare reform are increasingly going beyond employment to consider factors associated with family formation. Most scholars agree that single parents are at increased risk for welfare dependence, and their children are at greater risk for poor developmental outcomes. Policymakers, researchers, and practitioners are interested in how to increase the number of children growing up with the ongoing support of both parents in the context of a stable and healthy family. Can the number of out-of-wedlock births, which so often lead to poverty and fatherlessness, be reduced? How can we help couples strengthen their relationships with each other and with their children, to encourage family stability and healthy outcomes? How can marriage and responsible parenting behavior be promoted without endangering parents and children who may be in abusive relationships? Where marriage is not appropriate, is it possible to help increase the emotional as well as financial support of fathers living outside the home?

As the reauthorization of welfare programs nears, such questions are at the forefront of the discussion. Many policymakers are approaching reauthorization with an emphasis on strengthening low-income families, promoting marriage initiatives and responsibility, and encouraging abstinence for teens. Mathematica has conducted important studies in these areas that can help inform the debate.

Targeting Teens

We are conducting a seven-year national evaluation of abstinence education strategies. The evaluation will strengthen the research base and public knowledge about promoting abstinence among youth and the benefits of various program models.

To move toward self-sufficiency, many teenage parents need help. We conducted the evaluation of one of the earliest efforts to reduce their welfare dependency, the Teenage Parent Demonstration. 

Focus on Fathers

How do fathers and mothers, in the context of the family, influence infant and toddler development? Our Early Head Start research is helping to shed light on this question by focusing on the role of low-income fathers in the lives of their children and families. In 2001, 21 grantees launched fatherhood demonstration programs to develop and implement practices that increase involvement of fathers in their children's lives and help them meet their parental responsibilities. We are evaluating the success of these programs. 

Child support is often a key ingredient in the financial stability needed for self-sufficiency. Most women who are victims of domestic abuse want child support, but cooperation with child support requirements can increase their risk of harm. Welfare systems must take into account the specifics of each family in determining the best strategy for ensuring both safety and maintenance of child support. We examined what local communities in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, and Oregon have done to improve the child support process for victims of domestic violence.

Strengthening the Family Unit

A number of our studies deal with issues central to the debate concerning how to help low-income families achieve stability in their family life.

Can well-designed interventions help couples fulfill their aspirations for a healthy marriage and strong family? The Building Strong Families project is testing interventions with low-income, unwed couples beginning around the time of their child's birth. The programs will be designed to help such couples strengthen their relationship, achieve a healthy marriage if that is the path they choose, and enhance child and family well-being. The Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, the longest-running statewide marriage initiative in the United States, focuses on building capacity to deliver instruction in marriage and relationship skills—an approach that has stimulated public awareness and dialogue about the effects of marriage and divorce. Our two-year evaluation is documenting and analyzing the context from which the initiative developed; its goals and objectives; and its evolution, organizational structure, partnerships, and service delivery system.

The Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study addresses nonmarital childbearing, child development, family formation, the impact of welfare reform, and the role of fathers in low-income families. The study has found that many unwed parents are in stable relationships at the time of the child's birth. We interviewed nearly 5,000 sets of unwed parents of newborns in 20 cities for the baseline survey in 1999. Follow-up surveys will occur at 12, 34, and 54 months after the child's birth.

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