The Fathers & Families Coalition of America will host its 23rd Annual National Conference as a hybrid event from March 8 to March 11, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. The conference will feature a Roundtable Series covering child support, engaging families, child welfare, disparities in education, and local to national policy impacting practices; 10 Workshop Strands; and Fireside General Sessions. Also included are credential or certificate programs and networking opportunities. Conference registration includes a fee for in-person and virtual participants.

Families that receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance are often in a state of crisis. They face immediate material needs, and these unmet basic needs put families at an increased risk for investigations in the child welfare system. Addressing unmet material needs among TANF participants, through providing concrete supports, can help prevent child maltreatment and ultimately keep children in their homes.

This tipsheet is intended for state, county, and Tribal TANF leaders who make program-level decisions about the types of resources and services that their programs offer to TANF participants.

The “Success Sequence” is a proven formula to help young adults succeed in America. The three steps are

1. get at least a high school degree; then
2. get a full-time job; and lastly,
3. get married before having children.

Research shows that 97% of young people who follow all three steps are not poor as adults. This Institute for Family Studies webpage explores the three steps of the “Success Sequence” and explains how it alleviates poverty among young adults.

Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Programs (HMRF) programs are part of the Administration for Children and Families strategy to help interested adults and youth build stronger relationships, marriages, fathers, child engagement, and families.

HMRF programs help accomplish several of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program’s key purposes, including promoting marriage, encouraging the formation and maintenance of two parent families, promoting employment, and providing support for children to be raised in their homes or the homes of relatives. In this podcast episode, listeners will learn more about HMRF programs and how states are utilizing TANF funds to support HMRF work.

Under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) purpose three, states implement programs to prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies. States have taken various approaches to pregnancy prevention, from offering family planning services to sexual risk education, youth mentoring, and home visiting programs. This Office of Family Assistance brief spotlights some of these approaches in Georgia, Minnesota, and Oklahoma.

The crisis of marriage and family formation involves both economic and complex social factors. Children raised in non-intact families face numerous disadvantages, including higher poverty rates, poorer educational outcomes, and increased exposure to violence and substance abuse as compared to their peers with intact families. This Institute for Family Studies report focuses on family dynamics in Texas, identifies barriers to marriage and family formation, and proposes a pro-family policy agenda for the state.

This Heritage Foundation report analyzes data on important trends related to marriage, childbearing, divorce, cohabitation, and abortion, and offers insights on these trends. The report includes five key findings about family life in America today:

1. Americans are getting married less and later;
2. Fewer children are being born, but more are born outside marriage;
3. More couples are cohabiting;
4. Marriage and family are no longer priorities; and
5. American singles are faced with a “connection conundrum.”

This Institute for Family Studies report shows how closely the fortunes of Ohio families are tied to the educational success, poverty, and emotional well-being of children across the state, how strong families are tied to safer streets, how closely connected economic mobility for poor children is to the state of the unions in their communities across the state, and how falling fertility imperils the demographic future of the state. Given the importance of the family for children, adults, and the state, this report also identifies a series of public policies and civic measures the legislature, businesses, churches, and families can advance to renew the foundations of marriage and family across Ohio.

Given young adults’ high desire for marriage, understanding the truth of how loving and lasting marriages are formed can help the rising generation have confidence in their own ability to pursue this path in their own lives. Helping young people achieve their life goals of marriage is deeply important because a happy marriage is one of the best predictors of life satisfaction for men and women. This Institute for Family Studies report explores top attitudes and behaviors that were predictive of a high-quality and stable marriage from a recent survey of married men and women.