This blog post from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is part of the "Self-Sufficiency Series: Solutions from the Field" and highlights the $150 million initiative by the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance to conduct Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) promotion activities; of this $150 million, $75 million each year is designated for healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE). OFA funds 46 HMRE programs in 27 states and the territory of Guam. One of these programs is University Behavioral Associates/Montefiore’s Supporting Healthy Relationships program, which delivers services on building healthy relationships and marriages to 300 married and unmarried couples each year. This blog post describes the services that two UBA/Montefiore program participants received and their appreciation for the services.

This 2013 toolkit from the National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families provides information for individuals on increasing awareness of domestic violence, recognizing child maltreatment, and applying healthy relationship education into partner services and practices. This information provides a basic approach to creating a safety net and improving recognition skills of abusive situations. The toolkit includes a section of beneficial handouts and resources for dispersal in programs and the community.

This 2018 webinar discussed the relationship between the habits of a healthy dating environment and a healthy marriage. The National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families’ hour-long session included an overview of the Resource Center, as well as presentations on relationship education for youth in California and precautionary support for high-risk youth. The session focused on the impact of normalized relationship skills fostered from youth onward and how they transpire in later relationships or marriage. The session ended with a Q&A section for the audience to reflect on the webinar and to ask any relevant questions.

Aimed at informing decision makers in states and communities about research and best practices for preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) including teen dating violence, this package from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) presents a comprehensive series of approaches and corresponding available evidence that supports eight broad strategies. These strategies include disrupting pathways to partner violence, encouraging household financial security, and teaching skills to form safe and healthy relationships. The package provides a rationale for each strategy, before continuing into a series of approaches specific to the strategy’s goal. It also provides a list of Potential Outcomes that span physical and psychological benefits.

The National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families published this 2016 research brief to familiarize people with the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and how the abuse affects exposed children across the country. The brief addresses the dynamics of perpetuated IPV and the impacts on children in a physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioral sense. This brief is meant to serve as a resource in preventative and aftercare methods, including information on “red flags” and post-abuse therapists and hotlines.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation research-to-practice brief intended for Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) practitioners offers five tips to guide the design and implementation of HMRE programs at secondary schools. The tips can also be used to enhance existing programs and are based on a survey that was part of the Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services evaluation of five Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education programs.

This report from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation summarizes the findings of a research study of youth-serving healthy marriage and relationship education grant programs funded by the Office of Family Assistance. One of the main points addressed in this report is how these programs are specifically tailored to the developmental and cultural needs of the youth population.

Join the National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families (Resource Center) for a new webinar on June 14, 2018 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time that discusses the diversity of Asian American populations and provides targeted cultural information on dominant Asian demographic groups in the United States. This webinar will provide an overview of the Resource Center’s newest toolkit, Working with Asian American Individuals, Couples, and Families: A Toolkit for Stakeholders, which focuses on Asian immigration and history, the complexities of Asian groups, cultural considerations, and ways safety-net service providers can improve service delivery to Asian American families. Speakers will provide information on how safety-net service providers can be culturally responsive when serving Asian American individuals, couples, and families.

This letter from Clarence H. Carter, Director of the Office of Family Assistance, highlights several OFA-funded resources available to states wanting to participate in efforts to strengthen marriages, support healthy relationships, and encourage positive father involvement. These resources include: The National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families, which helps human services agencies develop the capacity to promote healthy relationship skills and The National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, which is a resource for responsible fatherhood information.

This resource, from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families, reviews trends related to family structure for low-income Hispanic mothers in urban areas using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The data show differences in family life stability, psychosocial risk, parenting stress, co-parenting relationships, and support across foreign-born and U.S.-born Hispanics. Authors conclude that strengths and risks vary based on mothers’ nativity, which should be considered when developing interventions or programs.