Helping Fragile Families

On October 27, The Future of Children, a joint project between Princeton University and the Brookings Institution, hosted an event and released a new issue of the journal. The issue reports that unwed parents face a host of problems that complicate their ability to get good jobs, form stable families, and perform successfully as parents.

An accompanying policy brief recommends several policies designed to help these fragile families. Based in part on a recent Mathematica Policy Research report on programs aimed at enhancing the marriage and relationship skills of parents, the brief calls for changes in President Obama’s proposed new Fatherhood, Marriage, and Innovations Fund, by recommending that funds be set aside for establishing and evaluating marriage promotion programs.

Researchers, community program operators (including couples from the Oklahoma and Baltimore programs that were part of the Mathematica evaluation), and an advisor to President Obama responded to the recommendations in the policy brief and commented on policies and practices that would help support fragile families.

Speakers and panelists then took questions from the audience.

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Participating couples, along with program operators, discuss their experiences with the Building Strong Families program.