This report describes the first year of activities of the 14 tribes and tribal organizations who in 2011 received demonstration grants from the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) for Coordination of Tribal TANF and Child Welfare Services to Tribal Families at Risk of Child Abuse or Neglect.  The overarching goal of the Study of Coordination of Tribal TANF and Child Welfare Services is to document the way in which the tribal grantees are creating and adapting culturally relevant and appropriate approaches, systems, and programs to increase coordination and enhance service delivery to address child abuse and neglect.

Low-income families such as those who qualify for TANF are generally at greater risk for child maltreatment than other families. Since many families are involved with both the welfare (TANF) and child welfare (CW) systems, TANF and CW agencies are ideal partners to coordinate efforts to provide services that can address family risk factors, as TANF is intended not only to encourage parents to improve their socio-economic status, but also to provide stable homes. The funded projects were expected to focus on one or more of the following services: (1) improved case management for families eligible for assistance from a Tribal TANF program; (2) supportive services and assistance to tribal children in out-of-home placements and the tribal families caring for such children, including adoptive families; and (3) prevention services and assistance to tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect. (author abstract)

This report is a technical supplement to The Community Healthy Marriage Initiative Evaluation: Impacts of a Community Approach to Strengthening Families. It provides additional detail about the research design and analytic methods that were used in the impact analyses and additional supplemental analyses that explore other aspects of the demonstration. (author abstract)

This report describes the implementation and impacts of selected programs funded through grants awarded to a number of organizations to conduct large-scale, community-wide projects that used “various methods to support healthy marriages community-wide” (Community Healthy Marriage [CHM] Grants to Implement Multiple Allowable Activities: Level 3; Healthy Marriage Demonstration Grants. Funding Opportunity Announcement 2006). The projects were to implement simultaneously five or more of the eight allowable activities specified in the authorizing legislation, reach a broad audience, involve stakeholders from diverse community sectors (e.g., government, schools, faith-based organizations, businesses, health care providers), and offer voluntary, healthy marriage and relationship education services to reach as many interested participants as possible. Impacts, at the community level, on a range of family-life outcomes were measured utilizing a representative sample of adults in matched treatment and comparison communities. (author abstract)

This report is a technical supplement to the 36-month impact report for the Building Strong Families (BSF) evaluation (Wood et al. 2012). It provides additional detail about the research design, analytic methods, and variable construction that were used for the 36-month analysis, as well as a discussion of the subgroup analysis that was conducted. Additionally, the report discusses the treatment-on-the-treated (TOT) impact analysis, an analysis of BSF’s effects on couples who actually attended BSF group sessions. The full set of impact results generated as part of the 36-month analysis is included in the appendices of this volume. Restricted use data files and documentation are available through the Inter-University Consortium of Political and Social Research. (author abstract)

The Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) evaluation was launched in 2003 to test the effectiveness of a skills-based relationship education program designed to help low-and modest-income married couples strengthen their relationships and to support more stable and more nurturing home environments and more positive outcomes for parents and their children. The evaluation was led by MDRC with Abt Associates and other partners, and it was sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This paper presents the results of an exploratory analysis that examines whether SHM program impacts vary by six subgroup-defining characteristics.

SHM was a voluntary, yearlong, marriage education program for lower-income, married couples who had children or were expecting a child. The program provided group workshops based on structured curricula; supplemental activities to build on workshop themes; and family support services to address participation barriers, connect families with other services, and reinforce curricular themes. The study’s random assignment design compared outcomes for families who were offered SHM’s services with outcomes for a similar group of families who were not offered SHM’s services but could access other services in the community.

The study’s main impact reports limited subgroup analysis to three potential moderators of impacts 12 months and 30 months after couples entered the study: couples’ level of marital distress, family income-­to-poverty level, and race/ethnicity. This paper explores whether the impacts of the SHM program on marital quality and stability outcomes differ according to six additional subgroup-defining characteris­tics at the 12-and 30-month follow-up points: (1) length of marriage at study entry, (2) experience of abuse or neglect in the family of origin, (3) psychological distress at study entry, (4) whether the extended family respects and values the couple’s marriage, (5) presence of a stepchild in the household, and (6) presence of a young child (under 3) in the household. (author abstract)

On December 12, 2013, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Region X held a webinar, "Strengthening TANF and Low-Income Families through Strategic Non-Custodial Supports." The webinar, open to State TANF Directors and staff, local TANF agencies, and contractors, focused on how promoting the financial and personal responsibility of non-custodial parents (NCPs) can increase their participation in the lives of their children, improve their employment and career path outcomes, and improve the long-term outlook for children in single-parent families. The presenters highlighted specific programs and provided an overview of innovative ways to serve NCPs, improve their engagement with TANF families, and develop partnerships that meet their needs.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for Children and Families released a report outlining their portfolio of research related to welfare and family self-sufficiency projects for the fiscal year 2013. OPRE's research focuses on four major areas: TANF and the Safety Net, Employment and the Labor Market, Education and Training, and other relevant cross-cutting research.

The National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families released a brief on healthy relationships, employment, and reentry. This brief provides an overview of the evidence supporting the interrelatedness of employment, healthy relationships, family well-being, and recidivism. It also gives the perspectives of expert program practitioners who are successfully integrating programming related to employment, prison reentry, healthy relationships, and responsible fatherhood. Finally, this brief offers program and policy recommendations for leveraging the positive impacts of healthy relationships on employment and reentry and vice versa.