Service Delivery Settings and Evaluation Design Options for Strengthening and Promoting Healthy Marriages

Publication Date: January 15, 2005
Current as of:

Introduction

In this societal context, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) included four purposes, three of which were related to marriage and family formation: states were urged to promote marriage, reduce out-of-wedlock childbearing, and encourage and support two-parent families (P.L. 104-193). This legislation made welfare, now Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), money available to states to develop programs to encourage marriage among low-income families. The current administration seeks to implement interventions that strengthen healthy marriages with the hope of ultimately improving child well-being; in so doing, it has proposed an increase in the amount of TANF funding available for programs to support healthy marriages. Some states and providers are poised to develop and provide these services with the reauthorization of PRWORA on the horizon this year.