Resource Library

Discover a summary of common challenges programs face in recruiting and engaging young fathers in Responsible Fatherhood programs.

The federal government has a long-standing commitment to supporting healthy relationships, stable families, and father involvement in their children’s and families’ lives. Since 2005, Congress has funded $150 million each year in healthy marriage (HM) and responsible fatherhood (RF) grants. The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...

This brief discusses possible ways to strengthen the implementation and evaluation of HMRE programs for youth, as it presents several practical considerations to inform future evaluations and increase the chances for programs to show evidence of favorable impacts on their intended outcomes.

This brief details lessons learned in the FCL project that may be applicable to Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood programs.

Explore a graphical overview of state TANF policies as of July 2021.

Explore strengths-based approaches used in the REFRAME project which aims to center and support Black families in Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood programs.

This brief offers lessons for healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) program providers seeking to integrate HMRE and economic stability services.

This brief summarizes lessons and insights from the project, focusing on the five youth-serving HMRE grant recipients that participated in SIMR.

Healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs aim to support the well-being of families. For such programs to be effective, it is critical that clients attend regularly, yet studies have found that HMRE program providers sometimes struggle to maintain high rates of participation. Identifying and exploring typical participation patterns in HMRE programming can help us better understand this challenge and point to ways in which programs can promote and support regular participation.

This study investigates participation patterns in three HMRE programs that were included in the Strengthening Relationships and Marriage Services (STREAMS) evaluation: (1) MotherWise, which served pregnant and new mothers in Denver, Colorado; (2) Career STREAMS, which served young adults seeking job training and employment services in St. Louis, Missouri; and (3) Empowering Families, which served couples with low incomes raising children together in Fort Worth, Texas. These three programs represent a range of HMRE program services and populations and offer opportunities to develop deeper insights into participation patterns in HMRE programs.

The Behavioral Interventions Scholars (BIS) grant program supports dissertation research by advanced graduate students who are applying a behavioral science lens to specific research questions relevant to social services programs and policies and other issues facing low-income and vulnerable families in the United States.