The Long-Term Effects of Building Strong Families: A Relationship Skills Education Program (Executive Summary)

The proportion of children born to unmarried parents continues to increase. Currently, more than 4 out of every 10 children born in the United States have unmarried parents. Although many unmarried parents live together when their children are born, their relationships are often tenuous and most end within a few years of the child’s birth. Therefore, most of these children are raised in households that do not include both of their biological parents. If interventions can improve the quality of unmarried parents’ relationships and increase the likelihood that they remain together, these interventions might also improve the well-being of their children. Thus, one possible approach to improving child well-being is strengthening the relationships of low-income couples through relationship skills education.

The Building Strong Families (BSF) project, sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluated this kind of approach. The project developed, implemented, and tested voluntary programs that offer relationship skills education and other support services to unwed couples who are expecting or who have just had a baby. Eight organizations volunteered to be part of a rigorous evaluation designed to test a new strategy to help new, unmarried parents strengthen their relationships. These organizations implemented BSF programs around the country, complying with a set of research-based program guidelines.