Programs for parents fail to produce benefits

All but one of eight major programs designed to help low-income, unwed parents with their relationships failed to produce significant benefits, a new study concluded.

Only couples in the Building Strong Families (BSF) program in Oklahoma City saw multiple benefits, Mathematica Policy Research said in its preliminary report on BSF, issued late last week.

The results of the BSF program in Baltimore were particularly disappointing, as couples who attended the relationship classes ended up in more domestic disputes than other couples who did not receive the counseling.

These findings are likely to fuel the Obama administration’s plans to redirect $111 million in federal marriage-education funding into a new, $500 million Fatherhood, Marriage and Families Innovation Fund.

The new fund will support “responsible fatherhood” programs, including those with marriage and relationship components, Carmen R. Nazario, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for children and families, said when the BSF findings were released. The new fund will also be more comprehensive and include mental-health counseling and domestic-violence prevention, she said.

Many marriage-education proponents are unhappy with the proposed funding shift, concerned about the prospect of mixing relationship-building programs with child-support enforcement.

Research has shown that parents’ relationships can improve and the men’s fathering skills can be enhanced “if the mothers are involved” from the beginning of a project — and if it’s “not tied to child-support enforcement,” said Chris Gersten, chairman of the Fatherhood and Marriage Leadership Institute and a former HHS official. Otherwise, couples may see an increase in quarreling, he said, citing studies of two child-support demonstration programs.

The BSF study involves some 5,000 low-income, nonviolent, unwed couples who were pregnant or new parents, and were romantically involved when they began participating in the program.

Half the couples were assigned to the BSF program; the rest went into a control group that was given access to other prenatal and family services.

Researchers theorized that if unwed parents received high-quality relationship-skills education, supported by mentoring, they would learn how to create more stable relationships; connect the fathers more securely to their families; and benefit themselves in other ways, such as solving problems without yelling or hitting, and learning how to keep their jobs.

But 15 months after couples entered the programs, the BSF couples looked no different than the control couples in seven out of eight programs. In fact, the Baltimore BSF had a negative effect — BSF couples there were less likely to stay together, had poorer “co-parenting” experiences, and more assaults on the women than control couples.

These “results suggest that it’s difficult to make this approach work,” said Mathematica senior researcher Robert G. Wood.

The one exception was the Oklahoma City BSF: Participating couples were more likely to stay together; had higher levels of happiness, support, affection and fidelity; were better at parenting; and received more financial support from fathers than couples in the control group.

There are many possible explanations for these outcomes, but one is the “Becoming Parents” curriculum, based on the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program. That was “the right choice for us,” said Mary Myrick, president of Public Strategies Inc., which ran the Oklahoma BSF.