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The Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) team consists of researchers, curriculum developers, and social service delivery professionals who were funded to research and oversee the development of community-based programs that provide relationship education to married parents. This Toolkit was developed by the SHM team to guide emerging SHM programs as they developed and implemented various aspects of the program design and research agenda — with the goal of helping program operators develop a strong, successful program. Our goal in providing this document for general use is that managers and…
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Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) aims to promote preschoolers' school readiness by supporting parents in providing instruction in the home. The program model is designed for parents who lack confidence in their ability to prepare their children for school, including parents with past negative school experiences or limited financial resources. The HIPPY program model offers weekly activities for 30 weeks of the year, alternating between home visits and group meetings (two one-on-one home visits per month and two group meetings per month). HIPPY sites are encouraged…
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In honor of Father's Day, the Child Support Report offered three personal essays on fatherhood from leaders in the field, along with several perspectives on the child support program from state child support directors and researchers. (Author abstract modified)
For the past five years, the federal government has supported a groundbreaking experiment in public policy affecting children and families through enhanced education and services targeted to fathers. In September 2006, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provided 101 competitive grants to States, territories, tribal organizations, public and non-profit community agencies, and faith-based organizations for projects focused on promoting Responsible Fatherhood (RF). Many of these grants focused on low-income men--many of them offenders or ex-offenders--with a variety of…
Family and child well-being is vital to the health of America's neighborhoods and communities. Recognizing this fact when reauthorizing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program in 2005, Congress appropriated $150 million to support demonstration programs in the areas of healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood. Managed by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF), these initiatives were designed to have a broad reach, including marriage and relationship education services for married and engaged couples. Of the 116…
In 2006, the Administration for Children and Families Office of Family Assistance (OFA) awarded Healthy Marriage (HM) and Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grants to a variety of organizations offering a diverse range of programming. The funded organizations were required to work within a framework of guidelines, including target populations and allowable activities. However, as demonstration initiatives, program design was intentionally flexible to encourage creativity in approach; offering deeper insight into which organizational structures, implementation strategies and service delivery models…
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This poster presents the results from the second collection of Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) review data for approved measures for the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grantees.
This report pulls from the experience of 15 organizations, whose specific focus is delivering services to high school-age youth, to summarize their common experiences and evaluation findings. It also focuses on how these programs were designed and structured to reach high school-age youth, according to information provided by organizations. The suggested influence of these demonstration programs is highlighted through quotes and links to video clips of the experiences of youth and program operators. Information on the program operations of all 15 grantees is included and supplemented by…
This paper is an endeavor to look at healthy marriage education programs funded by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) designed specifically to meet the needs of unmarried couples expecting a child or co-parenting a newborn. It looks at the unique challenges of the participants, varied program designs and service delivery strategies, as well as outcomes related to a specific group of healthy marriage grant programs. The intent is to continue the conversation around the question, "Do healthy marriage programs work?" raised and addressed in the Building Strong Families Study(Wood, McConnell,…
This framework is a road map for progress in achieving the kinds of outcomes that lead to positive and enduring change for children and families. It is a research-based approach to program change that shows how an agency can work together as a whole--across systems and service areas--to promote parent and family engagement and children's learning development. (Author abstract)
