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The Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI)

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE)
Programs to Strengthen Marriages and Families:


COMMUNITY HEALTHY MARRIAGE INITIATIVE: AN EVALUATION
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PURPOSE: This project evaluates community initiatives designed to promote healthy marriages, parental responsibility and the financial well-being of children, according to the overall objectives of child support enforcement. Measurable outcomes include marital quality and stability, parenting behaviors, child and family well-being, marriage and divorce rates, the economic circumstances of families, and measures related to improvement in child support outcomes, including paternity establishments and the payment of child support.
Initiatives involve various marriage-related strategies that aim to improve outcomes for children, adults, and the greater community. These initiatives are directed by community-based coalitions made up of organizations such as government agencies, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations, with funding from Federal, State and local sources.

CONTRACTOR: RTI International; subcontractors: The Urban Institute

PROJECT PERIOD: September 2003 to September 2010

FUNDING: $1.8 million

 

BUILDING STRONG FAMILIES
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PURPOSE: The purpose of this project is to evaluate healthy marriage services for romantically involved low-income, unwed parents around the time of the birth of a child.

The BSF project entails three major components: providing technical assistance to develop programs and selecting evaluation sites, documenting and analyzing program implementation, and conducting impact analysis. Following carefully developed program guidelines, selected BSF projects provide instruction and support to improve relationship and marriage skills, enhance couples’ understanding of marriage, and to help couples to focus on the needs of their new child.

Research shows that many unwed couples are romantically involved at the time of their child’s birth, are interested in the well-being of their child, and hope and expect to marry each other. Nevertheless, in the absence of any help, these aspirations and hopes for a marriage together are seldom realized. This project is an important opportunity to learn whether well-designed programs and services can help couples fulfill their aspirations for a healthy marriage.

CONTRACTOR: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.; subcontractors: MDRC; The Urban Institute, and Decision Information Resources.

PROJECT PERIOD: September 2002 to September 2011

FUNDING: $4.1 million

 

SUPPORTING HEALTHY MARRIAGE
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PURPOSE: The purpose of this project is to inform program operators and policymakers of the most effective ways to help couples to strengthen and maintain their marriages.

The research team works in partnership with state and local officials in eight selected sites, assisting in the design and implementation of marriage skills programs for low-income married couples or those planning to marry. Key evaluation components: providing technical assistance to develop programs and selecting evaluation sites; documenting and analyzing program implementation, and conducting impact analysis.

Research shows that low-income couples have higher divorce rates than wealthier couples, and face challenges to maintain healthy marriages. Low income families are consequently less likely to receive the benefits of healthy marriages. This project is an important opportunity to learn how best to assist low income couples to fulfill their aspirations for a healthy, stable marriage and a strong family.

CONTRACTOR: MDRC; subcontractors: Abt Associates, Child Trends, Optimal Solutions Group, and McFarland and Associates.

PROJECT PERIOD: September 2003 to September 2012

FUNDING: $1.9 million

 

MEASURING COUPLE RELATIONSHIPS
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PURPOSE: The purpose of this project is to review state of the art techniques in measuring couple relationships across a broad range of categories, covering psychological, sociological, economic, and other relevant literatures. Project goals include assessing the need for refinement of current measures to better address the multiple dimensions of couple relationships. In addition, technical papers and memoranda on conceptual measurement constructs are produced, as well as a literature review.

CONTRACTOR: Child Trends, through the NICHD Network on Child and Family Well-Being

PROJECT PERIOD: June 3, 2003 to September 2004

FUNDING: $260,000

 

FINANCIAL INCENTIVES AND DISINCENTIVES TO MARRIAGE
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PURPOSE: This project involves research on incentives and disincentives to marriage, such as those contained in tax provisions, including the Earned Income Tax Credit as well as means-tested benefit programs, such as welfare or food stamps, as they relate to marriage for low-income families. This project features a database that catalogs relevant federal and state tax policy, and social service program rules that create marriage benefits and penalties.

Another key feature of this project is user-friendly software which utilizes database information to calculate financial disincentives for marriage in various jurisdictions, under key scenarios such as earnings, family size, and family structure. Finally, this project features standardized tables that illustrate state descriptions and state-by-state comparisons of financial incentives and disincentives related to marriage.

CONTRACTOR: The Urban Institute

PROJECT PERIOD: September 2003 to September 2005

FUNDING: $464,000

 

OPTIONS FOR COLLECTING MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE STATISTICS
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PURPOSE: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) launched this project in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics and the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The study analyzes options for improving the collection of marriage and divorce statistics at the federal, state, and local levels.

Currently, available marriage and divorce data, including data from states’ vital registrars and national surveys, are insufficient to meet the needs of researchers, program planners, and policy makers. The project examines current and potential vital statistics and survey data collection methods, data quality and data infrastructure issues at the national, state and local levels, and assesses the needs of a variety of users of marriage and divorce data. This project provides a menu of options for decision makers regarding the collection and use of standardized, reliable, and informative data on marriage and divorce that includes estimates of the benefits and costs of each option.

CONTRACTOR: The Lewin Group; subcontractor: The Urban Institute

PROJECT PERIOD: September 2003 to September 2005

FUNDING: $979,000