This policy brief from the Family Strengthening Policy Center (FSPC), funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, seeks to describe an approach to strengthen families with children in low-income communities. The model uses the research that children thrive when cared for by supportive families in supportive communities. This brief reviews ways of enhancing supports with families and communities to improve positive outcomes for children.

This newsletter, from the North Carolina Department of Social Services and the Family and Children's Resource program, gives guidance on best practices to serving families. The article focuses on fatherhood involvement in child welfare and strategies for improving engagement among fathers.

This resource provides information to stakeholders running fatherhood programs with tools related to fatherhood, including program development and funding and the Responsible Fatherhood Management Information System.

The Urban Institute, with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, conducted the Study of Fathers' Involvement in Permanency Planning and Child Welfare Casework. This study reviewed the extent to which child welfare agencies identify, locate, and involve nonresident fathers in case planning. This paper reviews the results of the study on the steps that child welfare agencies take with engaging nonresidential fathers,; possible barriers, and the policies that affect involvement.

From the Children's Bureau, Office of Child Abuse and Neglect, this manual was built upon the important role that fathers play in child wellbeing. Authors review how to enhance the roles of fathers in their children's lives. Providing guidance to CPS caseworkers, this resource provides recommendations to increase father involvement in the case planning process.

In 2004, 1.5 million children were born out of wedlock in the United States, reaching a record number. While marriage is important to improving outcomes for low-income families, this article argues that reducing unwed childbearing is a key for healthy marriages as well.

A four-paper series. These papers examine the economic returns to marriage, include a literature review, and review new empirical findings using three different data sets and a variety of statistical models.

The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) funded this project to learn about the status of policies to support and promote marriage at the state level. Policies were inventoried that were enacted and proposed both prior to PRWORA and after the law’s passage. The project did not examine specific programs operating in localities. Nor did it evaluate policies or make recommendations. This document inventories marriage policies in the 50 states and District of Columbia in 10 broad areas.

Authored by Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill. This article is found in the Brookings Institution Policy Brief entitled Welfare Reform and Beyond #28. In this brief, the authors contrast making cash and related forms of public assistance more generous with strategies that encourage work and marriage.

Authored by Robert E. Rector and Melissa G. Pardue, this research report by the Heritage Foundation provides a comprehensive overview of the research pertaining to healthy marriages and President Bush's Healthy Marriage Initiative. The report offers policy background information and describes the program specifics of the President's plan.