The BSF project is both a demonstration and a rigorous evaluation. The evaluation will thoroughly analyze whether the intervention is successful in improving the outcomes of the couples and their children. Interested and eligible couples are randomly assigned to either the program group or to a control group. Program group couples are invited to participate in the BSF intervention; control group couples are free to receive whatever services may be available except the BSF program. Randomly assigning couples in this way eliminates the concern that differences between couples who choose to participate in the program and those who do not would generate differences in outcomes that would obscure the true effects of the program. This could happen, for example, if these couples had greater commitment or stability in their relationship compared to couples who did not express interest in the program. With random assignment, differences in outcomes are unbiased and can be attributed to the program.

An initial pilot stage offered seven local sites the opportunity to develop programs in accordance with the BSF model and make refinements based on early experiences. At the end of the pilot, sites were selected for the evaluation. To be selected, sites had to demonstrate that they could effectively implement the program model and recruit and retain a sufficient number of couples. All seven pilot sites qualified for the evaluation, although some conditions must still be fulfilled in some sites.

This report documents early lessons from the program development and pilot stages of the project. The information we draw on was gathered during the pilot period, which generally ran from February 2005 to February 2006. Since that time, all sites have expanded into full-scale operations, and changes may be occurring as a result of ongoing experience and technical assistance. Therefore, current practices may differ somewhat from what is reported here.

Although this report is based on a very early stage of the BSF project, it represents a policy-relevant advance in our understanding of the field of healthy marriage initiatives—particularly in terms of the strategies that hold promise for supporting low-income unwed couples as they strive to achieve their aspirations for a healthy marriage. The report does not analyze impacts, nor does it replace a full-scale implementation study, which will not be available for another year. It does, however, document the successes and challenges experienced by the BSF pilot sites and the approaches they took to address these challenges. It also sheds some light on the types of families that are attracted to the BSF program and on their responses to it. As such, the report offers lessons not only for federal policymakers, but also for other states, agencies, and program practitioners seeking to develop similar programs. (author abstract)

The Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative is a focused strategy to address the unique cultural, linguistic, demographic, and socioeconomic needs of a growing population of Hispanic children and families in the United States. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), funded the Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative (HHMI) Grantee Implementation Evaluation to learn how relationship and marriage education programs serving primarily Hispanic individuals and couples are marketing services and developing culturally appropriate materials and programming for diverse Hispanic populations. This study is an implementation evaluation, not an impact evaluation.

The Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative is a focused strategy to address the unique cultural, linguistic, demographic, and socioeconomic needs of a growing population of Hispanic children and families in the United States.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), funded the Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative (HHMI) Grantee Implementation Evaluation to learn how relationship and marriage education programs serving primarily Hispanic individuals and couples are marketing services and developing culturally appropriate materials and programming for diverse Hispanic populations. This study represents an implementation evaluation, not an impact evaluation.

 *OPRE managed, funded by ASPE.

We offer a framework to help marriage educators think more thoroughly, systematically, and creatively about intervention opportunities to strengthen marriage. We draw attention to the educational dimensions of content, intensity, methods, timing, setting, target, and delivery, and their implications for marriage education. Our discussion points out the potential value of developing marriage education with greater specificity in content, timing, and target. We call for intervention that embeds marriage education in diverse institutional settings and provides access to couples across the socioeconomic spectrum. In the end, we address the need to take marriage education beyond a valuable helping profession and an expanding educational service to a vibrant social movement. (author abstract)

A peer-reviewed version of this resource is available in the Journal of Family Relations: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0197-6664.2004.00064.x

The Administration for Children and Families and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) contracted with the Lewin Group and the Urban Institute to explore options for collecting marriage and divorce information. This report examines the feasibility and potential benefits of using existing survey data sets to provide reliable, timely information on marriage and divorce. It assesses the ability of a variety of data sets to produce marriage and divorce statistics at the national, state, and local levels. The main criterion is whether the existing survey data sets provide or can be modified to provide information on marriage and divorce rates, as was collected under the vital statistics system. (author abstract)

 *managed by OPRE, funded by ASPE.

To support further progress in this area, ACF is sponsoring a large-scale, comprehensive demonstration and evaluation of programs designed to strengthen relationships and support the marital aspirations of unmarried couples expecting a child: the Building Strong Families project (BSF). To inform the design and development of strong BSF programs, Mathematica conducted a related project (titled Evaluating the Implementation of Programs to Strengthen Families with Children Born Out of Wedlock, or ESF) to identify and study existing programs that have aspects similar to those envisioned for BSF programs. A major purpose of that project was to identify design and implementation issues likely to arise in BSF programs and describe strategies that have been used to address them in similar programs.

One program that was deemed similar to BSF was Family Connections in Alabama (FCA). The FCA was a 12-month project conducted during 2003 that aimed to design, implement, and evaluate a program to provide family life education to low-income unmarried parents of young children. It was selected for study because it was one of very few newly emerging programs that included a focus on couple relationships among  low-income unmarried parents. Although some key aspects of the program differed from those of the BSF program model, several of the goals, approaches, and expected outcomes were similar enough to warrant examination for lessons that could inform the development and operation of BSF programs.

This report describes and develops lessons learned from the FCA program that are relevant for designing and implementing BSF programs. It first describes the overall program design and planning, and then discusses implementation in each of the study sites, focusing on staffing, participant recruitment, curriculum, structure and content of classes, and receptivity of staff and participants to the program. The final chapter discusses implications for developing and operating relationship/marriage interventions with unwed couples—the BSF target population—and discusses how the lessons learned may apply to future BSF program design and content.

This report is not an evaluation of the Family Connections in Alabama program. Rather, it focuses on what BSF program developers can learn from FCA given the underlying differences in program goals and design. A separate report presents findings of an evaluation of the FCA (Adler-Baeder et al. 2004). (author abstract)

This project explored how low-income couples make decisions. Specifically, the project explored, through observational methods, the mechanisms and factors which influence the couple as a unit (as well as the individual partners in low-income couples) as they make decisions on issues of importance to them (e.g. (a) seeking, obtaining, and advancing in employment; (b) living arrangements and relationship status (e.g. marriage/cohabitation); (c) bearing children; (d) arranging child care; or (e) negotiating and determining parental roles and responsibilities). Data from observations were used to hypothesize whether focusing on couples, rather than individuals, could generate more positive results for program interventions. An ancillary purpose of this project was to assess the appropriateness of methods and measures to study decision-making among low-income couples. (author abstract)

The increasing recognition of the importance of marriage for the social and economic well-being of children has led to demonstrations aimed at strengthening and stimulating healthy marriages. The next step is to ensure that factors closely linked with healthy marriages are addressed as well. This paper brings together research findings and policy ideas about the interactions between marriage, employment, and family functioning. It presents a framework and proposes several demonstrations aimed at improving employment and family outcomes for disadvantaged populations. The appendix reviews an extensive body of research on specific linkages between marriage, employment, and family functioning. (author abstract)

While the scope of research on marriage and family formation has expanded greatly since the 1970s, the basic need to understand how families are doing, what challenges they face, and what helps them thrive will continue to be important. Marriage-related studies have evolved from merely tracking trends, to describing pathways into relationships and parenthood, to analyzing influences on child well-being and informing the Healthy Marriage Initiative. As a result, the field today covers an array of related topics including marriage, the wider spectrum of family structures, fatherhood, community resources, social networks, and the role of policy and programs as they relate to family well-being. There is a growing body of research showing how each domain influences family well-being directly and is vital in its own right. However, in combination they influence family well-being in interactive ways that are still not fully understood, for example how some elements mitigate or magnify the influence of others and how their relative importance varies over the life course.

Policy makers and researchers need to better understand how these dimensions of the family context intersect, and what this implies for developing policies and programs to strengthen families. To help achieve this, we need data that track individuals into relationships and parenthood; examine interactions among family members inside and outside the household; describe family resources, stressors and well-being along multiple dimensions and points in time; catalogue program participation; and capture a wide array of related covariates. In addition, we need data that will allow for examination of the roles and implications of these factors among different understudied populations such as low-income families and racial and ethnic minority groups.

This paper discusses the richness of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort (NLSY97) for studying these issues, and ways in which its utility for advancing research on marriage and the family could be enhanced. The basis for the recommended improvements comes from the discussion of a panel of experts convened by NORC for the Administration for Children and Families. To put these recommendations into clearer perspective, this paper begins with a review of the promises and current limitations of NLSY97 for studying marriage and family issues and ends with a discussion of first steps one could take in pursuing such enhancements.(author abstract)