Family Structure and Healthy Relationships

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. A. Expert Panel

Nancy Duff Campbell Co-President National Women's Law Center	Anne Marie Lancour Assistant Staff Director ABA Center on Children and the Law
Kathryn Dyjak Senior Legislative Associate American Public Human Services Association	Rebecca Maynard University Trustee University of Pennsylvania
Pat Fagan Fellow The Heritage Foundation	Lee Posey Policy Specialist

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Attachment B. Expert Panel Members

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. A. Matrix Bibliography

American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), 2001. State Efforts to Promote Marriage, Family Formation and Prevent Family Disintegration. APHSA: Washington, D.C. American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), 1999. State Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Abstinence Education Efforts . APHSA: Washington, D.C. Badgley, Anne. Heritage

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 11: Specialty Programs

State State Regulates Marriage/ Family Therapists (a) Professional Development Respite Programs for Parents of Children with Disabilities (b) Programs for Incarcerated Parents (c) Alabama X Glendwood, Inc. Alaska X

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 10: Youth Education and Development

State School-based Marriage Education Abstinence Until Marriage Education (a) Alabama

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 9: Marriage Support and Promotion

State Home Visitation (a) Mentoring/Counseling Fatherhood Programs with a Marriage Component Alabama Law. Family Coaches Program provides mentors for TANF recipients and low-income families -- program featured on 10 o'clock Saturday newscast and Monday morning news show for wider access. Source: APHSA 2001 Survey

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 8: State Vital Statistics

State Condition of Vital Statistics Data (b) Marriage Statistics (c) Divorce Statistics (c) Improvement Efforts and Others Alabama

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 7: State Transfer Policies

State Medicaid: Two-parent family eligibility based solely on financial circumstances (a) Medicaid Income limits for Pregnant Women (% FPL) (b)

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 6: State Tax Policies

State State EITC by Percent of Fed. Credit and whether Refundable (2000) (a) Tax Threshold (2000) for Married 2 parent family of 4 (c) Tax Threshold (2000) 1 parent family of 3 (c) State Policies to Address Marriage Penalty (d) Alabama $4,600 $4,600 Joint rate schedule (e)

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 5: Marriage and Relationship Preparation and Education

State Incentives for Marriage Preparation for Adults Marriage Education-Adults State Funding for Marriage Preparation and Support Re-marriage waiting period (a, b) Alabama

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 4: State Requirements for Marriage Licenses and Ceremonies

State Blood Test Waiting period between applying for to receiving license Waiting period between license and ceremony How soon one can marry after receiving license When license expires I.D. Required Age of consent to marry Fee Age with parental consent Age without parental consent

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 3: Divorce Laws and Procedures

State Waiting Periods (b) Different Laws for Families with children Mediation Minimum Period Until Divorce is Granted (a) Residency Requirement (c) Alabama

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 2: Divorce Laws and Procedures

State No Fault Sole Ground No-Fault Grounds Added to Fault-Based Divorce No-Fault Modifications (a) Covenant Marriage Mandatory Education on Effects of Divorce Joint Legal Custody Presumption Laws (b) Alabama X

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Table 1: Campaigns, Commissions, and Proclamations

State Campaigns Commissions Proclamation Alabama Alaska Arizona

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Attachments A. Detailed Matrices

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Attachments

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Endnotes

1 The authors would like to thank the following individuals for reviewing a draft of the interim report: Nancy Duff Campbell, Kathryn Dyjak, Patrick Fagan, Susan Golonka, Ron Haskins, Lee Posey, and Mark Nowak. 2 Arizona, Louisiana, and Utah. 3 Arizona, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Utah.

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Specialty Programs

Finally, we examined marriage initiatives within several identified specialty programs. We examined professional development efforts for marriage and family therapists, respite programs for parents of children with disabilities, and programs for incarcerated parents. Every state, except the District of Columbia, had an activity in at least one of

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Youth Education and Development

While many of the state-level marriage policies focus on activities that aim to prepare adults for marriage or prevent divorce, states are also targeting the marriage message to youth. Two such areas are school-based marriage education and abstinence-until-marriage education. Twenty-five states had policies in these areas of marriage and abstinenc

State Policies to Promote Marriage. Preliminary Report.. Marriage Support and Promotion

In addition to marriage preparation initiatives, states have begun to take an interest in policies to strengthen marriages after couples marry (e.g., efforts to promote communication and education may help prevent families from dissolving). Other policies encourage parents with children in common to marry. We focused on home visitation programs, m

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