Family Support Policy Research

Reports

• "Synthesis of Research and Resources to Support At-Risk Youth." Heather Koball, Robin Dion, Andrew Gothro, Maura Bardos, Amy Dworsky, Jiffy Lansing, Matthew Stagner, Danijela Korom-Djakovic, Carla Herrera, and Alice Elizabeth Manning, June 2011. This report for the Youth Demonstration Development Project highlights what is known broadly about the needs, circumstances, and outcomes for at-risk youth; theoretical perspectives and intervention approaches to serve them, including risk/resilience and capital development frameworks; and the Administration for Children and Families' programs that serve at-risk youth. The report also discusses implications of the research for the development of a conceptual framework for serving at-risk youth.
• "Laws Requiring Parental Involvement to Obtain Abortion and Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Minors." Silvie Colman, Ted Joyce, and Thomas S. Dee, May 2011. Report evaluates whether policies requiring parental involvement in minors' decision to obtain an abortion can alter their sexual behavior and help reduce the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among teens. Using data from the STI surveillance system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on cases of gonorrhea and chlamydia, the findings offer little evidence of a link between parental involvement laws and teen STI rates.

• "Catalog of Research: Programs for Low-Income Fathers." Sarah Avellar, M. Robin Dion, Andrew Clarkwest, Heather Zaveri, Subuhi Asheer, Kelley Borradaile, Megan Hague Angus, Timothy Novak, Julie Redline, and Marykate Zukiewicz, June 2011. This review provides summaries of impact, implementation, and descriptive studies that have examined responsible fatherhood and related family strengthening programs that target and serve low-income fathers.

• "Exploratory Study of Decision-Making in Low-Income Couples." M. Robin Dion, Jean Knab, Debra Wright, Renay Cleary Bradley, and John M. Gottman, December 2010. This report focuses on the role of partners and spouses in the decision-making processes of social service clients are available. Using survey data, direct observation of couple interaction, and physiological measurement, findings suggest that the decisions of individuals receiving public assistance—married or unmarried—are affected by their partners. If confirmed by future research, these results have implications for the delivery, content, and outcome measurement of social services for low-income families.

• "Initial Implementation of a Couples-Focused Employment Program." Heather Zaveri and Alan Hershey, October 2010. This study evaluates the initial implementation of the Couples Employment (CE) project in Baltimore, Maryland, a voluntary intervention to simultaneously address employment, financial literacy, and relationship issues, to capitalize on the ways that success in each might affect the other. Initial experiences highlighted the importance of defining a program model integrating family stability and economic success; identifying a strong program director; achieving an appropriate staff mix; and maintaining a focus on couples.

• "Relationship Skills Education and Child Support: Evidence from a Program Partnership in Texas." Robert Santillano and Robert G. Wood, November 2010. This report evaluates the impact of a partnership between the relationship education program Building Strong Families, and the Child Support Division of the Texas Office of the Attorney General, on child support orders, child support payments, and father involvement.

Journal Articles

• "Evaluation Exemplar: The Critical Importance of Stakeholder Relations in a National, Experimental Abstinence Education Evaluation." Paul R. Brandon, Nick L. Smith, Christopher Trenholm, and Barbara Devaney. American Journal of Evaluation, December 2010 (subscription required).This piece describes Mathematica’s abstinence education evaluation, provides interviews with the evaluation’s two lead authors (Trenholm and Devaney), and offers reflections on the study.
• "Changes in Capacity Among Local Coordinated Community Response Coalitions (CCRs) Supported by the DELTA Program." Pamela J. Cox, Daniel M. Finkelstein, Victoria E. Perez, and Margo L. Rosenbach. Journal of Family Social Work, July 2010 (subscription required). Using survey data collected from coordinated community responses (CCRs), which are community coalitions funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances (DELTA) Program, this article reports on improvements in internal capacity and external supports that affect ability to prevent intimate partner violence.
• "What Predicts Sex Partners' Age Differences Among African American Youth? A Longitudinal Study from Adolescence to Young Adulthood." José A. Bauermeister, Marc A. Zimmerman, Cleopatra H. Caldwell, Yange Xue, and Gilbert C. Gee. Journal of Sex Research, July 2010 (subscription required). Using growth curve modeling, this study describes the shape of the age difference between participants and their sex partners across adolescence and young adulthood in a sample of African American youth, by evaluating the co-occurrence of other risk behaviors.
• "Relationship Education for Unmarried Couples with Children: Parental Responses to the Building Strong Families Project." Robin Dion and Alan Hershey. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, April 2010. An implementation study of the Building Strong Families (BSF) programs indicates that many unmarried couples are interested in services to strengthen their relationships around the time of their child’s birth. More than 5,000 couples volunteered for the BSF study across eight states. Although couples report learning from and valuing the program, they also have many life challenges, and practitioners must be proactive in supporting ongoing participation. Results from a rigorous evaluation of the program’s impacts on family outcomes are forthcoming.
• "What Do We Know About the Link Between Marriage and Health?” Heather Koball, Emily Moiduddin, Jamila Henderson, Brian Goesling, and Melanie Besculides. Journal of Family Issues (web edition), March 2010. This special journal issue presents nine new studies on the relationship between marriage and health among African Americans. It discusses health disparities between African Americans and other racial and ethnic groups, offers an overview of African American marriage rates, and presents evidence for the marriage-health link in this population.
• "Minors’ Behavioral Responses to Parental Involvement Laws: Delaying Abortion Until Age 18." Silvie Colman and Ted Joyce. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, June 2009. Research on the effect of laws mandating parental involvement in minors’ abortions has failed to examine an important behavioral response to such laws: Older teenagers may delay an abortion until age 18. For some, this may mean terminating a pregnancy after the first trimester. Using data on abortions in Texas from 1997 to 2003, analysis shows that in the four years after the law went into effect, the proportion of abortions obtained at age 18 increased by six percentage points among minors who conceived at age 17 years and eight months, and by 13 points among those who did so at 17 years and nine months. The second-trimester abortion rate of these groups combined increased by 21 percent.

Issue Briefs

• "Do Laws Requiring Parental Involvement to Obtain an Abortion Help Reduce STIs Among Minors?" Issue Brief. Silvie Colman, Ted Joyce, and Thomas Dee, June 2011. This issue brief evaluates whether policies requiring parental involvement in minors' decision to obtain an abortion can alter their sexual behavior and help reduce the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among teens. Using data from the STI surveillance system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on cases of gonorrhea and chlamydia, the findings offer little evidence of a link between parental involvement laws and teen STI rates. 
• "Exploring the Role of Partners and Spouses in the Decisions of Social Service Clients." Trends in Service Delivery, Issue Brief #1. M. Robin Dion, December 2010. This brief focuses on the role of partners and spouses in the decision-making processes of social service clients. Using survey data, direct observation of couple interaction, and physiological measurement, findings suggest that the decisions of individuals receiving public assistance—married or unmarried—are affected by their partners. If confirmed by future research, these results have implications for the delivery, content, and outcome measurement of social services for low-income families.
• “Fostering Effective Grassroots Partnerships: Lessons from Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.” Pam Winston, March 2010. A new issue brief highlights themes and recommendations from recent Mathematica studies of faith-based and community initiatives. The Faith-Based and Community Initiative established in 2001 and the Charitable Choice provisions of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act brought new attention and controversy to the role of faith-based organizations in providing social services to Americans. The brief explores how social service organizations and faith-based and secular groups might work together moving forward.
• “Teaching Self-Sufficiency Through Home Visitation and Life Skills Education.” Trends in Family Programs and Policy, Issue Brief #3. Alicia Meckstroth, Andrew Burwick, Quinn Moore, and Michael Ponza, July 2009. To address challenges faced by hard-to-employ TANF clients, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, in partnership with the Nebraska Health and Human Services System, operated the Building Nebraska Families (BNF) program from 2002 to 2005. The initiative combined intensive home visitation and life skills education to prepare high-risk TANF clients in rural Nebraska to succeed in the world of work and improve their families’ well-being. This issue brief notes significant impacts for the very hard-to-employ. BNF was effective in increasing employment and earnings as well as reducing poverty for this group.
• A new series of practice briefs helps state and local officials think about strategies to  meet federal work participation requirements in their TANF programs. The briefs draw on information gathered from case studies of nine programs and describe approaches states and local offices have adopted that might be of interest to other program administrators.
• "Providing Paid Employment Opportunities for TANF Participants Engaged in Vocational Education Programs: Examples from Denver, Colorado; Kentucky; and California." Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates, Brief #1. Ann Person, LaDonna Pavetti, and Jeffrey Max, December 2008. This brief profiles three programs, two statewide and one local, that provide work opportunities to TANF recipients participating in vocational education. The programs combine vocational education and paid work, a strategy that allows recipients to further their education while reinforcing the emphasis of the TANF program on encouraging recipients to engage in work as quickly as possible.
• "Using Data to Monitor and Improve the Work Participation of TANF Recipients: Examples from New York City and Utah." Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates, Brief #2. Jeffrey Max and Gretchen Kirby, December 2008. This brief profiles two programs, one statewide and one local, for analyzing, reporting, and using data to hold case managers and administrators accountable for increasing the work participation of TANF recipients. The selected strategies use data to keep staff informed about progress toward participation goals and allow program managers to address nonparticipation quickly.
• "Providing Unpaid Work Experience Opportunities for TANF Recipients: Examples from Erie County, New York; Montana; and Hamilton County, Ohio." Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates, Brief #3. Michelle Derr, December 2008. This brief profiles three work experience programs that engage nearly all work-ready TANF recipients in unpaid work activities, either alone or in conjunction with education and training. Unpaid work experience is designed to mirror regular employment in the paid labor market. TANF recipients are assigned to entry-level jobs at government offices, nonprofit agencies, educational institutions, or for-profit businesses, creating an immediate attachment to the labor market. Rather than earning an hourly wage, recipients receive their TANF grant and food stamp benefits in exchange for the hours they work. In addition to helping meet TANF work requirements, these programs help recipients gain job skills and acclimate to a regular work schedule.
• "Achieving Higher TANF Work Participation Rates: Case Studies from Maryland and Utah." Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates, Brief #4. Jacqueline Kauff and Michelle Derr, December 2008. Both Maryland and Utah more than doubled their state TANF work participation rates within a one-year period. Maryland’s rate increased from 20.5 percent in 2005 to 44.5 percent in 2006. Utah’s rate increased from 16 percent in October 2006 to 45.5 percent in October 2007. Both adopted a philosophy of universal engagement, a performance monitoring system, work experience and subsidized employment programs, and solely state-funded programs for subgroups of recipients.
• "Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates: Summary Report." Strategies for Increasing TANF Work Participation Rates, Brief #5. LaDonna Pavetti, Jacqueline Kauff, Michelle Derr, Jeffrey Max, Ann Person, and Gretchen Kirby, December 2008. This brief summarizes the other briefs in this series and includes some additional material. It describes four broad strategies: (1) new work opportunities for TANF recipients; (2) administrative strategies; (3) TANF policy changes; and (4) creation of new programs.

Other

• "Economic Integration of Latino Immigrants in New and Traditional Rural Destinations in the United States." Randy Capps, Heather Koball, and William Kandel. In Growing Up Hispanic, Nancy S. Landale, Susan McHale, and Alan Booth, editors, 2010. This book chapter focuses on the integration of Latino immigrants in rural areas of the United States, a research area under-studied compared to urban integration.
• "Promising Antipoverty Strategies for Families." Maria Cancian, Daniel R. Meyer, and Deborah Reed, April 2010. This paper reviews family structure, its relationship to employment, and the recession’s impact on poor families. To reduce poverty, the report proposes policies that help parents balance work and caretaking, and support their children.
• “Family Structure, Childbearing, and Parental Employment: Implications for the Level and Trend in Poverty.” Maria Cancian and Deborah Reed. In Changing Poverty, Changing Policies, September 2009. Poverty declined significantly in the decade after the War on Poverty, yet the official poverty rate has never fallen below its 1973 level and remains higher than the rates in many other advanced economies. The authors document how economic, social, demographic, and public policy changes since the early 1970s have altered who is poor and where antipoverty initiatives have kept pace or fallen behind, examining how family structure changes in particular have affected poverty. They note the importance of efforts to support parents’ employment.
• "The Marriage Measures Guide of State-Level Statistics." Brian Goesling, Robert G. Wood, Carol Razafindrakoto, and Jamila Henderson, March 2008. In the past decade, policymakers and researchers have become increasingly interested in social programs that promote and support healthy marriages. Drawing on data from several sources, the guide provides a broad range of state-level statistical information that policymakers and marriage program operators can use to assess the characteristics and needs of their state populations. The guide can be used to identify high-priority target populations and to inform decisions about design and implementation of healthy marriage programs.
• "Federal Policy Efforts to Improve Outcomes Among Disadvantaged Families by Supporting Marriage and Family Stability." M. Robin Dion and Alan J. Hawkins. In Handbook of Families and Poverty, October 2007. There is broad consensus that family structure is inextricably linked with poverty and the well-being of children. This paper reviews the connections between poverty, family structure, and child well-being; explains the rationale for a new policy strategy focused on intervening more directly at the level of family structure, and describes several major federal initiatives under way to develop and test the new strategies.
• "Welfare-to-Work Transitions for Parents of Infants: Employment and Child-Care Policy Implementation in Eight Communities." Christine Ross and Gretchen Kirby. In From Welfare to Child Care: What Happens to Young Children When Mothers Exchange Welfare for Work, 2006. Nearly half the states have used the flexibility provided under federal welfare reform law to require parents of infants to work as a condition of receiving benefits, and nearly all states require teenage parents to return to school soon after the birth of a child. Mathematica's implementation study examined the policy environment (work and school requirements) and practical considerations (child-care and supportive services) that influence the timing and ease of the transition from welfare to work or school for parents of infants. The study was based on staff interviews and focus groups with key informants in eight communities. Researchers found that case managers and program administrators did not view parents of infants as a group that had categorical needs substantially different from those of the broader TANF population and that TANF policies regarding work requirements, sanctions, and time limits were applied in the same way. In contrast, teenage parents were viewed as a subgroup with special needs requiring comprehensive services and support.