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Helping Unwed Parents Build Strong And Healthy Marriages:
A Conceptual Framework For Interventions
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| TITLE PAGE | ||||
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | ||||
| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | ||||
| I | INTRODUCTION | |||
| A. RESEARCH AND POLICY BACKGROUND | ||||
| 1. Unwed-Parent Families and Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing | ||||
| 2. Couple Relationships in Unwed-Parent Families | ||||
| 3. Program and Policy Responses | ||||
| B. STRENGTHENING FAMILIES STUDY | ||||
| 1. Expert Panel | ||||
| 2. Literature Review | ||||
| 3. Fieldwork | ||||
| 4. Technical Assistance | ||||
| C. OVERVIEW OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK | ||||
| II | FAMILY FORMATION IN LOW-INCOME POPULATIONS | |||
| A. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS | ||||
| 1. Cultural Factors | ||||
| 2. Economic Conditions | ||||
| 3. Public Policies | ||||
| B. PARENTAL BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS: STATIC FACTORS | ||||
| 1. Parent Age at Child's Birth | ||||
| 2. Racial/Ethnic Background | ||||
| 3. Type and Quality of Relationship at Child's Birth | ||||
| 4. Multiple Partner Fertility | ||||
| 5. Presence of Domestic Violence | ||||
| C. PARENTAL RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES: DYNAMIC FACTORS | ||||
| 1. Relationship Skills | ||||
| 2. Attitudes Toward Marriage and Cohabitation | ||||
| 3. Education and Employability | ||||
| 4. Physical and Mental Health | ||||
| 5. Parenting Skills | ||||
| 6. Kin Support | ||||
| 7. Religiosity | ||||
| D. OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERVENTION | ||||
| III | APPROACHES TO MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIP EDUCATION | |||
| A. TARGET POPULATIONS | ||||
| B. MAJOR APPROACHES TO MARRIAGE EDUCATION | ||||
| 1. Modality | ||||
| 2. Specific Elements or Features | ||||
| 3. Experience with Program Dissemination | ||||
| 4. Focus on Relationships During the Transition to Parenthood | ||||
| C. PROGRAM EVALUATIONS | ||||
| D. ADAPTATION TO LOW-INCOME FAMILIES | ||||
| IV | PROGRAM INTERVENTIONS TO IMPROVE MARRIAGEABILITY | |||
| A. SERVICES TO IMPROVE MARRIAGEABILITY | ||||
| B. POTENTIAL EFFECTIVENESS OF A MARRIAGEABILTITY APPROACH | ||||
| V | POLICY OPTIONS TO ENCOURAGE MARRIAGE AND FAMILY FORMATION | |||
| A. TANF | ||||
| 1. Remove Categorical Eligibility Requirements | ||||
| 2. Disregard Some or All of the Spouse's or Cohabiting Partner's income | ||||
| 3. Provide Financial Bonuses for Marriage | ||||
| 4. Ease Work Requirements on Two-Parent Families | ||||
| 5. Provide Financial Security As Welfare Recipients Move into Work | ||||
| B. CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT | ||||
| 1. Strictly Enforce Child Support | ||||
| 2. Inform Unwed Fathers of Their Potential Child Support Obligations | ||||
| 3. Align Child Support Obligations with the Father's Ability | ||||
| 4. Reduce the Amount of Child Support Retained by the Government | ||||
| C. OTHER PROGRAMS AND POLICIES | ||||
| 1. Expand Health Care Coverage for Two-Parent Families | ||||
| 2. Disregard Spouse's Earnings in Determing Housing Assistance Eligibility and Benefits | ||||
| 3. Reduce Any Disincentives to Family Formation Inherrent in Child Care Policies | ||||
| 4. Reduce the Marriage Penalty in the Tax System | ||||
| D. IMPLEMENTING AND TESTING POLICY CHANGES | ||||
| VI | PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES | |||
| A. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT OPTIONS | ||||
| B. PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION | ||||
| 1. Building Support for a Focus on Healthy Marriage | ||||
| 2. Providing Culturally Sensitive Services | ||||
| 3. Conducting Outreach and Recruitment | ||||
| 4. Assessing Couples and Families | ||||
| C. SERVICE DELIVERY | ||||
| 1. Context and Setting | ||||
| 2. Mode of Service Delivery | ||||
| 3. Program Intensity | ||||
| 4. Staff, Background, and Training | ||||
| VII | EVALUATING INTERVENTIONS TO STRENGTHEN FAMILIES | |||
| A. DESCRIBING THE INTERVENTION | ||||
| B. AN EXPERIMENT: THE MOST RIGOROUS EVALUATION | ||||
| 1. Potential Resistence to Random Assignment | ||||
| 2. Defining the Intervention and the Counterfactual | ||||
| 3. Fitting Random Assignment into the Program's Intake Procedures | ||||
| 4. Monitoring the Integrity of Random Assignment | ||||
| C. PROGRAM SIZE CONSIDERATIONS | ||||
| D. DATA NEEDS AND SOURCES | ||||
| 1. Outcome Measures | ||||
| 2. Use of Family-Strengthening Services | ||||
| 3. Baseline Characteristics | ||||
| E. ESTIMATING THE IMPACTS OF THE INTERVENTIONS | ||||
| 1. Analyzing Impacts by Subgroup | ||||
| 2. Dealing with Program Nonparticipation and Attrition | ||||
| 3. Dealing with Sample Attrition | ||||
| 4. Estimating the Impacts of Different Levels of Exposure to the Intervention | ||||
| 5. Determining the Role Played by Intermediate Outcomes in Long-Term Outcomes | ||||
| F. SUMMARY | ||||
| REFERENCES | ||||
| APPENDIX A: EXPERT PANEL MEMBERS | ||||
| APPENDIX B: SUMMARY OF PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS | ||||
| APPENDIX C: SITE VISIT SUMMARIES | ||||
| FIGURES | |
| Figure | |
| I.1 | CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: STRENGTHENING FAMILIES |
| II.1 | FAMILY FORMATION IN LOW-INCOME POPULATIONS |
| III.1 | IDENTIFYING TARGET POPULATIONS |
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