Opening Plenary: Low Income Families and Marriage Policy
Sara McLanahan (Princeton University), Robert Franklin (Emory University), Ron Haskins (The Brookings Institution), Pamela Jordan (University of Washington), and George Doub (Family Wellness)

Research has documented a relationship between healthy marriages and various measures of child and family well-being including more positive economic, social and developmental outcomes. Amidst concern that current public policies do not adequately support healthy marriages, policymakers have begun to support the idea of designing interventions and policies to foster positive marital relations. However, research has also found that many low-income families face challenges to marital and family well-being, including economic instability, psychological stress, isolation, and, often, harsh community environments for raising children. This session will explore the opportunities and challenges of policy changes and programmatic interventions designed to promote healthy marriages and child and family well-being among disadvantaged families. Particular attention will be paid to issues of race and ethnicity, the role of faith-based service providers, and the timing of interventions around the transition to parenthood.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions:

1: Implementing and Evaluating Healthy Marriage Programs
Implementing Programs to Strengthen Unwed Parents
– Robin Dion, Debra Strong, and Alan Hershey (Mathematica Policy Research)

Service Delivery and Evaluation Design Options for Strengthening and Promoting Healthy Marrriages
– Matt Stagner and Jennifer Ehrle (The Urban Institute)

Marriage on the Public Policy Agenda: What Do Policy Makers Need to Know from Research?
– Kristin Seefeldt and Pamela Smock (University of Michigan)

Although state and local human service agencies are just beginning to focus on programs to strengthen and support healthy marriages, the field of marriage-related interventions is rich and growing. Programs range from those that prepare couples for marriage to those that support couples during their marriage to those dealing with couples possibly near the end of their relationship. This session will focus on the various implementation and evaluation challenges posed by these programs including the service delivery setting, program and policy design, and opportunities for future research and evaluation.

2: Community Approaches to Promoting Healthy Marriage
Implementing and Supporting Community Healthy Marriage Initiatives
– Mike Fishman (The Lewin Group)

Community Healthy Marriage Initiatives in Action: Lessons from Chattanooga
– Julie Baumgardner and Rozario Slack (First Things First) *

Challenges in Evaluating Community Healthy Marriage Approaches: Lessons from an Analysis of Effects of the Marriage Savers Program on Divorce
– Stanley Weed and Paul Birch (Institute for Research and Evaluation)
o Discussant – Robert Lerman (American University/The Urban Institute)

A Community Healthy Marriage Initiative (CHMI) is an important approach to building support for healthy marriage within a community. Dedicated to helping couples form and sustain a healthy marriage, CHMIs take a coalition-based approach to assuring broad support, sharing community resources, and engaging the community at large in the delivery of healthy marriage services. This session will provide an overview of how to operate, support and analyze the effectiveness of community approaches to supporting healthy marriage at the state and local level.

3: Conceptualizing and Measuring Healthy Marriage

Kristin Moore (Child Trends) *
Alan Hawkins (Brigham Young University) *
Waldo E. Johnson (University of Chicago)

This session will present three perspectives on the conceptualization and measurement of healthy marriage especially as they relate to contemporary trends and issues for low-income populations. Presentations in this session will highlight how to measure relationship quality for low-income populations, race-ethnicity subgroups, persons in prison or jail, cohabiting couples, as well as couples co-parenting after the dissolution of a relationship.

4: Marriage, Divorce, and Income Support Programs
Two-Parent Family Participation in TANF and Food Stamps
– Anu Rangarajan, Laura Castner and Melissa Clark (Mathematica Policy Research)

A Study of TANF and Child Support Interaction
– Mary Farrell (The Lewin Group) *

The Long-term Effects of MFIP on Marriage and Divorce among Two-Parent Families
–Lisa Gennetian and Virginia Knox (MDRC)

This session will focus on the interaction of income support programs, including TANF, Food Stamps, Child Support and other financial incentives, with marital and relationship status using a variety of analytic methods and instruments.

5: Union Formation and Separation Patterns among Low Income Families
Why Low Income Couples Marry: the Role of Attitudes, Skills and Income
– Robert Rector and Kirk Johnson (The Heritage Foundation)

Do All Unmarried Parents Marry and Separate for the Same Reasons? Union Transitions of Unmarried Parents
– Cynthia Osborne (Princeton University) *

Perceptions of Divorce as a Barrier to Marriage
– Maureen Waller and Elizabeth Peters (Cornell University) *

Nonmarital childbearing has increased dramatically over the past four decades such that today, one-third of all U.S. births occur outside of marriage. Due to increases in cohabitation, delays or declines in marriage, and declines in “shotgun weddings”, there has been a rise in fragile families, defined as unmarried parents raising their children together. Since low-income individuals and members of disadvantaged minority groups are much more likely to live in fragile families than other groups, policymakers have an interest in understanding the characteristics of low income unmarried parents and the factors that influence their relationship trajectories. This session will present three papers that examine the union formation and separation patterns among low-income families.

Luncheon Plenary: The Downs and Ups of Marriage in Contemporary America
William J. Doherty
Professor and Director of Marital Therapy
University of Minnesota

Delivered by one of America’s foremost experts on marriage and family in the United States, the luncheon plenary will focus the current state of marital unions in America and the role that interventions at the community, family and individual level can have in transforming people’s lives.

Repeat of Concurrent Breakout Sessions

1: Implementing and Evaluating Healthy Marriage Programs
Implementing Programs to Strengthen Unwed Parents
– Robin Dion, Debra Strong, and Alan Hershey (Mathematica Policy Research)

Service Delivery and Evaluation Design Options for Strengthening and Promoting Healthy Marrriages – Matt Stagner and Jennifer Ehrle (The Urban Institute)

Marriage on the Public Policy Agenda: What Do Policy Makers Need to Know from Research?
– Kristin Seefeldt and Pamela Smock (University of Michigan)

Although state and local human service agencies are just beginning to focus on programs to strengthen and support healthy marriages, the field of marriage-related interventions is rich and growing. Programs range from those that prepare couples for marriage to those that support couples during their marriage to those dealing with couples possibly near the end of their relationship. This session will focus on the various implementation and evaluation challenges posed by these programs including the service delivery setting, program and policy design, and opportunities for future research and evaluation.

2: Community Approaches to Promoting Healthy Marriage
Implementing and Supporting Community Healthy Marriage Initiatives
– Mike Fishman (The Lewin Group)

Community Healthy Marriage Initiatives in Action: Lessons from Chattanooga
– Julie Baumgardner and Rozario Slack (First Things First) *

Challenges in Evaluating Community Healthy Marriage Approaches: Lessons from an Analysis of Effects of the Marriage Savers Program on Divorce
– Stanley Weed and Paul Birch (Institute for Research and Evaluation)
o Discussant – Robert Lerman (American University/The Urban Institute)

A Community Healthy Marriage Initiative (CHMI) is an important approach to building support for healthy marriage within a community. Dedicated to helping couples form and sustain a healthy marriage, CHMIs take a coalition-based approach to assuring broad support, sharing community resources, and engaging the community at large in the delivery of healthy marriage services. This session will provide an overview of how to operate, support and analyze the effectiveness of community approaches to supporting healthy marriage at the state and local level.

3: Conceptualizing and Measuring Healthy Marriage

Kristin Moore (Child Trends) *
Alan Hawkins (Brigham Young University) *
Waldo E. Johnson (University of Chicago)

This session will present three perspectives on the conceptualization and measurement of healthy marriage especially as they relate to contemporary trends and issues for low-income populations. Presentations in this session will highlight how to measure relationship quality for low-income populations, race-ethnicity subgroups, persons in prison or jail, cohabiting couples, as well as couples co-parenting after the dissolution of a relationship.

4: Marriage, Divorce, and Income Support Programs
Two-Parent Family Participation in TANF and Food Stamps
– Anu Rangarajan, Laura Castner and Melissa Clark (Mathematica Policy Research)

A Study of TANF and Child Support Interaction
– Mary Farrell (The Lewin Group) *

The Long-term Effects of MFIP on Marriage and Divorce among Two-Parent Families
–Lisa Gennetian and Virginia Knox (MDRC)

This session will focus on the interaction of income support programs, including TANF, Food Stamps, Child Support and other financial incentives, with marital and relationship status using a variety of analytic methods and instruments.

5: The Role of Fathers in Fragile Families
Fathers' Investments and Children's Behavior
– Marcia Carlson (Columbia University), Sara McLanahan (Princeton University), and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn (Columbia University) *

Child Support and Father/Child Contact: Establishing a Causal Path
– Lenna Nepomnyaschy and Irwin Garfinkel (Columbia University) *

In-Hospital Paternity Establishment and Father Involvement
– Ronald Mincy, Irwin Garfinkel and Lenna Nepomnyaschy (Columbia University) *

The rise in children born outside of wedlock has also increased attention to the need for unmarried fathers to be more involved in the lives of their children. The vast majority of unmarried fathers and mothers have, themselves, been found to want fathers to be actively involved with their children. Research has found that when fathers spend more time with and provide more financial resources for their children, the children have generally shown more positive cognitive, social, and emotional development. This session presents some of the most recent and comprehensive research on the relationship between fathers’ involvement, public policies and child development.

Afternoon Plenary Roundtable:
Implementing and Evaluating Healthy Marriage Programs amongst Diverse Racial and Socio-economic Groups
Thomas Bradbury (UCLA), Carolyn Cowan (University of California, Berkeley), Patricia Dixon (Georgia State University), John Gottman (Relationship Research Institute), Joe Jones (Center for Fathers, Families and Workforce Development) and Scott Stanley (University of Denver).
Moderator – William Allen (Healing Bonds)

For several decades, practitioners and researchers have been providing and studying programs designed to strengthen marriage, enhance relationships, improve couple communication skills, prevent divorce and support positive family environments for two-parent families to raise children. Much of this research has been targeted to and tested on socio-economically advantaged couples or has not explicitly examined differences in treatment response based on income status, nor has it been designed for targeted adaptation among diverse racial and ethnic groups. Featuring six experts in strengthening marital relationships, supporting low-income families, and working among diverse racial and ethnic groups, this moderated conversation will focus on how to design implement and evaluate programs among the target population of interest to the human services field.

Registration & Continental Breakfast
Those interested in a discussion on revitalizing and applying a system of marriage and divorce statistics can meet with staff from the Lewin Group at designated tables inside Salon 1.

Plenary: Early Impact Reports of Employment Retention and Advancement Sites
Dan Bloom (MDRC), Elizabeth Jones (Texas Department of Human Services), Marilyn Edelhoch and Randy McCall (South Carolina Department of Social Services), Cynthia Hinckley (Riverside County Department of Public Social Services) and Jerry Craig, (Riverside County Economic Development Agency), David Gruenenfelder (Illinois Department of Human Services) and Larry Fitzpatrick (Operations, Employment & Employer Services).

The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) study, which is underway in 15 sites in eight (8) states, is conducting an evaluation of program strategies for enhancing employment retention and advancement of low income families. Each of the ERA projects is being evaluated using a random assignment design in which eligible clients are assigned to experimental and control groups and impacts are assessed over a three-year period. In this plenary session, representatives from several ERA sites will present data about the early impacts of the ERA study, particularly those impacts related to employment rates, employment stability, wage progression, family income, and other important outcomes.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions I

1: TANF Caseloads and Determinants of TANF Utilization
TANF Caseload Synthesis Project: Synthesis of Data from Five State TANF Caseload Studies
– Susan Hauan and Sarah Douglas (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

A Study of Individuals and Families Who Do Not Enter the TANF Program
– Linda Giannarelli (The Urban Institute) *

Why Did the Welfare Caseload Decline?
– Caroline Danielson (Welfare Policy Research Project, University of California) Jacob Alex Klerman (RAND) *

In this session, presenters will consider recent trends in TANF caseloads in the United States. Throughout the country, TANF caseloads have steadily and dramatically declined. What are the causes and implications of this decline for families and children? What happens to those who do not enter the TANF program?

2: Welfare Reform and Workforce Development
A Means to an End: Integration of Welfare and Workforce Development Systems
– Nisha Patel, Lisa Ranghelli, and Mark H. Greenberg (Center for Law and Social Policy)

Report on Highlights of Site Visits: Serving TANF and Low-income Populations through WIA One-Stop Centers
– Alan Werner (Abt Associates)

The Road to Self-Sufficiency: Job Quality and Job Transition Patterns After Welfare Reform
– Rucker Johnson and Mary Corcoran (University of Michigan)

This panel takes a look at the connection between welfare and workfoce development, paying special attention to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and its relation with TANF. How well are workforce development entities (including One-stops) working with welfare agencies to ensure the entry, stability, and mobility of those in the low-wage workforce?

3: Connecting with Employers to Improve Low-Wage Worker Outcomes
Involving Employers in Job Retention for Low-Income Workers: Implementation and Early Effects of an Innovative Program in Cleveland
– Gayle Hamilton, (MDRC), and Jill Rizika (Towards Employment, Cleveland, OH)

Employers and TANF Recipients: What (Little) is Known and What Can be Learned
– John Tambornino (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

Report on Washington State WorkFirst Post-Employment Labor Exchange (WPLEX)
– Mary Farrell (The Lewin Group)

Low-wage workforce development has emerged as a central element of welfare reform, impacting the state’s ability to foster economic self-sufficiency among recipients. The three papers on this panel focus on alliances between welfare agencies and employers, looking at innovative programs to fruitfully connect these players as well as positing future directions for their alliances.

4: Housing Assistance and Welfare Reform
Comparing Housing-Assisted and Housing-Unassisted Welfare Leavers in Massachusetts
– Gloria Nagle (Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance)

TANF Leavers: Examining the Relationship Between the Receipt of Housing Assistance and Post-TANF Well-being
– David C. Mancuso and Charles Lieberman (The SPHERE Institute)

Comparing Outcomes for Los Angeles County’s HUD-Assisted and Unassisted Welfare Leavers
– Richard Hendra (MDRC)

As growing numbers of recipients reach the five-year lifetime assistance limit, the issue of housing becomes increasingly important. Does housing assistance increase the likelihood of well-being for TANF leavers? If so, what elements of that assistance are most beneficial? This session examines the results of a number of recent studies of TANF leavers, addressing these questions from local, state, and national perspectives.

Break

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

5: The Impact of Work and Marriage on Poverty and Child Well-being
Work and Marriage: The Way to End Poverty and Welfare
– Ron Haskins and Isabel V. Sawhill (The Brookings Institution)

The Role of Work and Marriage in Child Well-being
– Robert Rector, Rea Hederman, and Kirk Johnson (The Heritage Foundation)

The Impacts of Marital Status and Parental Presence on the Material Hardship of Families with Children
– Robert I. Lerman (American University and the Urban Institute)

Both healthy marriage and stable work are potential paths to economic self-sufficiency for welfare recipients. In this session, speakers will address these approaches, examining the potential impacts of both work and marriage on child and family well-being.

6: Wage and Earnings Progression in the Low-Wage Labor Market After PRWORA
Moving Up or Moving On: Workers, Firms and Advancement in the Low-Wage Labor Market
– Fredrik Andersson, Harry Holzer and Julia Lane (The Urban Institute) *

Earnings Progression Among Public Assistance Recipients and other Low-Earners from 1999-2001
– Julia Lane (U.S. Bureau of the Census and The Urban Institute)

Wage Progression and Mobility Among Low-Wage Workers in the late 1990s
– Anu Rangarajan and Peter Schochet (Mathematica Policy Research)

Economic self-sufficiency through employment can only be achieved if low-wage workers are able to access stable jobs with definite prospects for mobility and earnings growth. Panelists in this session will review data on mobility in the low-wage labor market post-welfare reform, considering the ability of this market to support workers and combat sustained poverty.

7: The Welfare to Work Grants Program
The Welfare To Work Grants Program: Enrollee Outcomes One Year After Program Entry
– Tom Fraker (Mathematica Policy Research)

Welfare-to-Work Grants Programs: Adjusting to Changing Circumstances
-Demetra Nightingale (Johns Hopkins University)

Employment and Child Support Outcomes in the Welfare-To-Work Grants Program: The SHARE Program in Yakima, Washington
– Irma Perez-Johnson, Jacqueline Kauff, and Alan Hershey (Mathematica Policy Research)

This session will look at a specific program, the Welfare-to-Work (WtW) Grants program. The $3 billion program authorized under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 is the latest component of federal welfare reform and represents the only federal funds specifically designated for work-related activities for welfare recipients. Panelists will discuss program outcomes related to employment, child support, and poverty.

8: Place, Poverty and Welfare Reform
Access to Social Services: The Changing Urban Geography of Poverty and Service Provision
– Scott W. Allard (Brown University)

How Do Persistent Poverty Dynamics and Demographics Vary Across the Rural-Urban Continuum?
– Bruce A. Weber (Oregon State University)

Poverty and Macroeconomic Performance Across Space, Race, and Family Structure.
– Craig Gundersen (Economic Research Service) and James P. Ziliak (University of Kentucky, Center for Poverty Research)

Understanding poverty depends on comprehension of the complex interplay of geography, demography, and economics in family life. Poverty takes on a different face in rural versus urban settings, and the impact of welfare reform may depend on welfare agencies’ ability to tailor their services appropriately. This session will discuss the dynamics of poverty and the role of a social welfare system constrained by geography.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions:

1: Welfare Reform and Child and Youth Well-being
A Synthesis of Child Outcomes from Welfare Reform: The Child Outcomes Synthesis Report
– Martha J. Zaslow, Megan Gallagher, and Susan Jekielek, (Child Trends) *

Does Money Really Matter? Estimating Impacts of Family Income on Children's Achievement with Data from Random-Assignment Experiments
– Charles Michalopoulos (MDRC), Pamela Morris (MDRC), Greg Duncan (Northwestern University), and Chris Rodriguez (MDRC)

Children In Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Child-Only Cases with Relative Caregivers
– Deborah Gibbs, Jennifer Kasten, Anupa Bir, Sonja Hoover (RTI International) *

Although changes in welfare policy over the past decade have been targeted more directly at adults, rather than children, policy and program changes have had effects on children and youth. The three papers presented in this session examine ways in which changes in welfare policy have affected children. The first paper provides an overview of the outcomes for children under different welfare experiments. The second paper focuses on the impact that family income has on child wellbeing and achievement. The final paper explores a section of the population that is of emerging interest to state and local policymakers, the children in TANF child-only cases, with an emphasis on those in the care of relatives. Collectively these presentations will further develop a picture of the effects of welfare policies on children and youth.

2: Parental Incarceration and Child Well-being
Incarcerated Children and Their Parents
– Christopher J. Mumola (Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice)

Incarceration and the Bonds Among Parents in Fragile Families
– Bruce Western, Leonard Lopoo, Sara McLanahan, (Princeton University) *

The Adolescent Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Developmental Perspective
– J. Mark Eddy and John B. Reid (Oregon Social Learning Center)

Families Left Behind in the Transition from Prison to Home: The Hidden Costs of Incarceration
– Elizabeth Cincotta (The Urban Institute) *

Currently, 1.4 million individuals are behind bars in America’s state and federal prisons. Incarceration affects not only the incarcerated individual, but also their families and communities left behind. Despite the huge number of affected families and children, there is little research on the impact of incarceration on American family life. Of emerging importance to welfare policymakers and researchers are the impacts of imprisonment on prisoners and their families and the challenges of reintegrating into free society once prisoners return. This session will provide both an overview of the literature of incarceration, the impacts of incarceration on children and families, and the challenges of reentry for ex-offenders.

3: Food Assistance and Welfare Reform
The Relationship of Earnings and Income to Food Stamp Participation: A Longitudinal Analysis
– Mary Farrell and Mike Fishman (The Lewin Group) *

Food Stamps, Cash Assistance and Employment in South Carolina
– David Ribar (George Washington University), Marilyn Edelhoch and Qiduan Liu (South Carolina Department of Social Services) and Michael Wiseman (George Washington University) *

Examining the Relationship Between the EITC and Declining Food Stamp Program Participation Among Households with Children
– Kelly S. Mikelson and Robert I. Lerman (The Urban Institute)

Following enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), important provisions of the Food Stamp Program were altered, causing sharp declines in the caseloads for both cash assistance and food stamps. The three studies presented in this session examine the interaction of food stamps with a variety of income support efforts as part of the social safety net for working poor families.

4: Data Uses for Policy Research and Program Management
Evaluating SIPP Benefits Reporting Using Matched Administrative Records from California
– Joseph Hotz (UCLA)

State Use of TANF Administrative Data
– Erik Beecroft (Abt Associates) Julia Isaacs (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and Bruce Goodro (State of Massachusetts)

Data Tools for Analyzing State Policy Variation and Cross Policy Interaction
– Nancy Cauthen (National Center for Children in Poverty)

This interactive session will feature three presentations that use a variety of data and administrative tools at the individual, local, and state levels that may be employed in order to inform policy research and the management of welfare programs.

Plenary: Child Care, Welfare Reform and the Well-being of Children
The Supply of Regulated Child Care in the 25 Communities of the National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families
–Jean Layzer, Ann Collins (Abt Associates) and Lee Kreader (National Center for Children in Poverty)

Child Care Subsidy Use and Employment Outcomes of TANF Mothers During the Early Years of Welfare Reform : A Three-State Study
– Bong Joo Lee, Robert Goerge, and Mairead Reidy (Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago) *

Child Care Arrangements and Children’s Achievement
– Lisa Gennetian, Danielle Crosby, Chantelle Dowsett and Aletha Houston (MDRC) *
Moderated by Shannon Christian
Associate Commissioner, Child Care Bureau,
Administration for Children, Youth and Families,
Administration for Children and Families,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The country’s major overhaul of its welfare programs in 1996 shifted focus from providing cash assistance to needy parents to supporting them in their efforts to secure work. For many working families the cost of child care can be a major impediment to successfully making the transition from welfare to work. As such, federal and state governments have increased both funding and flexibility of their child care subsidy programs. Despite these efforts, little is known about the effects of these policy decisions on subsidy use, employment outcomes, the care of children, and children’s well-being. The research presented in this session will illuminate answers to a number of questions related to these issues and provide a richer understanding of the effects of current child care policies.