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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE:
ACF Announces Four New Projects
to Study Healthy Marriage
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for
Children and Families today announced that it will support four new
research and evaluation projects related to healthy marriage. Healthy
marriage programs help couples who choose marriage for themselves to
develop the skills and knowledge necessary to form and sustain successful
unions. Healthy marriage is the one of the cornerstones of President Bush’s
agenda to strengthen families and improve the well-being of children,”
said Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. “It’s important that we
conduct careful research to advance our knowledge of which approaches
are most effective.” The first project is an evaluation of healthy marriage programs for
low-income couples in their child-rearing years who are married or plan
to marry. Couples will be randomly assigned to research groups and the
researchers will study the couples’ relationships and their children’s
well-being at the time of follow-up. The project builds on research
that shows positive results from marriage education. ACF has awarded
a contract to MDRC to carry out this work. Subcontractors include Abt
Associates, Child Trends, Optimal Solutions Group, and McFarland &
Associates. Next is an evaluation of community-wide healthy marriage campaignsinitiatives.
The researchers will study the effects of community approaches including1)
services to improve marriage quality and stability; 2) state and community
marriage policies; 3) media campaigns and 4) other marriage-related
strategies. ACF has awarded a contract to RTI International to carry
out this work. Subcontractors include The Urban Institute, the Crider
Group, and Betah Associates, Inc. A third study will analyze the financial incentives and disincentives
contained in tax provisions and transfer programs as they regard marriage
and family formation for low-income families. One of the results of
the study will be user-friendly software to calculate the financial
incentives for marriage in various jurisdictions. ACF has awarded a
contract to The Urban Institute to carry out this work, with Forum One
Communications as a subcontractor. The fourth study will analyze options for improving the collection
of marriage and divorce statistics at the federal, state, and local
levels. ACF has awarded a contract to The Lewin Group to carry out this
work, with The Urban Institute as a subcontractor. “We welcome the infusion of new knowledge about how best to promote
healthy marriage,” said Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., assistant secretary
for children and families. “We have no intention of coercing anyone
to marry or encouraging people to stay in unhappy or abusive marriages;
rather we want to make sure that every couple who chooses to marry has
an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of a strong and stable marriage.” These new awards expand ACF’s investment in research and evaluation
projects related to healthy marriage. In September 2002, ACF initiated
a project to evaluate healthy marriage services for unwed parents around
the time of the birth of a child. More information on this project is
available at www.buildingstrongfamilies.info.
### Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials
are available at www.hhs.gov/news
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