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 Project conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. With subcontractors Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, Public Strategies, Inc., The Urban Institute, Decision Information Resources, Inc. Under contract to the Administration for Children and Families U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. website Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation website Urban Institute website Decision Information Resources, Inc. Administration for Children and Families website United States Department of Health and Human Services website      
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Can Well-Designed Interventions Help?

mother, child and fatherOne-third of all births in the United States are to unmarried women, and even more in some population groups.  Many children of unwed couples flourish, but research shows that on average they are at greater risk than children growing up with their married biological parents of living in poverty and developing social, behavioral and academic problems.  Research also shows that most such unwed couples are romantically involved at the time of their child's birth, are interested in the well-being of their child, and hope and expect to marry each other.  Nevertheless, in the absence of any intervention, these aspirations and hopes for a marriage together are seldom realized.

The Building Strong Families (BSF) project is an important opportunity to learn whether well-designed interventions can help couples fulfill their aspirations for a healthy marriage and a strong family. The project will test interventions with low-income, unwed couples who are interested in marriage, beginning during pregnancy or around the time of their child’s birth. The programs will be designed to help such couples strengthen their relationship, achieve a healthy marriage if that is the path they choose, and thus enhance child and family well-being. They will be designed around two main components. First, the programs will provide marriage and relationship skills education; this focus is the distinctive component of the BSF project. In addition, BSF programs will provide a variety of family support services that could help low-income couples sustain a healthy relationship. These services might, for example, help to improve parenting skills or help identify services to address problems with employment, health and mental health, or substance abuse. Some initiatives might supplement these main components with policy changes to reduce financial disincentives to marry inherent in benefit programs and the tax code.

Although BSF programs will be designed to support healthy marriages, the focus of services will be sensitive to the interests of couples and the choices they make. For couples inclined towards marriage, the focus will be on achieving a healthy marriage. For participants who do not marry, the programs will still focus on helping them develop and maintain a positive, healthy relationship as a couple and as parents, to enhance their child’s development.

Creating BSF programs will likely require collaborations across agencies and interested parties. Experts in domestic violence and substance abuse, for example, are likely to be essential partners, to ensure that programs identify couples with such problems and deal with those issues in ways that make safety the first priority.

ACF has contracted with Mathematica and its partners to help develop such programs and determine their effectiveness. The BSF project addresses the following key questions:

  • Foundation: What underlying conditions, preparation, resources, and context make it possible to implement programs that focus on promoting healthy marriage for a target population of low-income unwed couples with children? On what theories of behavior and family well-being do the programs rest? What types of organizations are well suited to operating such programs?
  • Operation: What are the important issues and challenges in designing, implementing, and operating programs, and what lessons can be drawn from the program experience? What services are included, and how do they complement existing programs for low-income families?
  • Participation: Who participates and for how long, and what services do they receive? How does participation differ for subgroups?
  • Impacts: How do BSF programs affect couples’ attitudes and expectations about marriage, the quality and stability of their relationships, and whether they marry? What effects are found on parents and their relationships with their children, and the well-being and development of children? Which program designs work best?

Components of the Project

The BSF project, which will run from 2002 to 2011, entails three major components:

  1. Developing Programs and Selecting Evaluation Sites. An initial period is devoted to ensuring a strong program base for evaluation. Mathematica and its evaluation partners are gathering information from experts and existing programs on strategies to promote healthy marriages. We are using that guidance to formulate program models, disseminate information about them, and reach out to agencies and organizations that could potentially operate such programs. We are providing technical assistance resources to help interested agencies form and strengthen critical partnerships, develop and refine their program ideas, and implement them. Well-designed programs that make good implementation progress will be monitored for a pilot operations period, and six sites will ultimately be chosen for the evaluation. Project funds are available to compensate sites for evaluation-related costs.
  2. Documentation and Analysis of Program Implementation. The evaluation team will monitor and report on how BSF sites operate. Early reports will profile program designs. Careful case studies will be conducted, based on interviews and focus groups with program staff and participants and data from program MIS files. These studies will document and assess how BSF programs are formed, identify factors that affect their implementation experiences, and glean lessons for the future about implementing similar programs.
  3. Impact Analysis. In each site, couples in the target population who are interested in the program will be randomly assigned to the program or a control group. Mathematica will conduct follow-up surveys with both groups about 18 and 36 months after their enrollment in the evaluation, and at 60 months, if early impact analyses suggest it would be worthwhile. Assessments of the cognitive and social development of children will be part of the evaluation follow-up. Administrative data from state agencies will document sample members' earnings and use of assistance benefits. The evaluation team will estimate program impacts on mother-father relationships, family structure, fathers' involvement in childrearing, parent-child relationships and the home environment, family functioning, child well-being and development, and parental well-being.

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