What Family Research tells us about Family Formation

The overall goal of this curriculum is to encourage family formation. There are several paths one might take to family formation: marrying one's baby's other parent or involving the father in raising one's child. However, the primary outcomes of the curriculum are not these ends but of building new parents' knowledge, skills and attitudes. The curriculum is designed to support and equip participants to build and sustain healthy family relationships and to provide a secure environment for their children. Family research has shown that unhealthy family relationships and environments are prevalent among young families due to a lack of skill and knowledge.

Family          Barriers          Strategies

About Family

This curriculum uses a broad definition of family to include people who are related by blood, marriage, and adoption. In addition, a family includes people who share common goals and resources, and are committed to each other over time. These definitions of family from family studies literature were used to develop this focus:

• Fragile Families are families that consist of poor children born outside of marriage whose two natural parents are working together to raise them, either by living together or through frequent visitation (Sorensen, et al., 2000).
• Contextual Families are defined as an on-going system of interacting persons who are bound together by shared rituals and rules more than by shared biology (Boss, 2002).
• An inclusive perspective defines families as being composed of persons related by blood, marriage or adoption, but also sets of interdependent but independent persons who share common goals, resources, and commitment to each other over time (Bubolz and Sontag, 1993).

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Barriers to Family Formation

Based on current research, seven barriers to a stable, healthy family for unmarried, new parents have been identified. The curriculum incorporates strategies that target these barriers to a healthy, stable family:

• Unstable environments where distressed families are unable to manage stress, adapt to conditions, and/or recover from a crisis (e.g., Boss, 2002).
• Lack of parental involvement in their children's lives regardless of marital status (e.g., Sorensen, et al., 2000).
• Vulnerability of unwed parents due to distress from poor marital, emotional and economic statuses (e.g., Sorensen, et al., 2000).
• Poor relationships between the parents of children, lack of father's ability to provide economic support, and the lack of father's involvement in the life of the child (e.g., Johnson, 2001).
• No motivation for marriage such as affordability, respectability, trust, and control (e.g., Edin, 2001).
• Communications breakdown, mutual decreased feelings, background differences (e.g., Meredith & Holman, 2001).
• Marital unreadiness of couples related to misconceptions, no knowledge of alternatives, no appreciation for the benefits of marriage (e.g., Stanley, 2001 and Doherty, 2000).

The strategies to overcome these barriers include building the unmarried parents':

• Decision-making skills
• Interpersonal communication skills
• Economic stability
• Self-efficacy
• Family support systems

As a result of learning these strategies, unmarried parents will:

• Increase involvement of both the mother and father
• Remove barriers to effective co-parenting
• Increase skills to ready them for marriage
• Improve family and parenting relationships

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Strategies for Encouraging Family Formation

Building Decision-making Skills

Decision-making refers to the kinds of choices unwed parents make to benefit themselves and their child. Parents need to understand the importance of the involvement of both the mother and father. When parents know more about the developmental needs of their children, they will choose to become involved with them. Parents will remove barriers, change childrearing practices, and become more involved in their children's lives. New parents must decide whether to continue in the current romantic relationship or to terminate it in the best interest of the child and/or themselves. Parents will also make choices regarding new or potential partners that may impact the child. Lifestyle choices have many dimensions that include social and economic well-being, legal issues, and life planning in general.

The lack of interpersonal skills is one of the primary causes of family distress and marital breakdown. Interpersonal communication skills are essential for positive relationships to develop between parents. Improved relationships between parents will help to remove barriers to adequate parental involvement. This is true whether or not the parents are living in the same home. Interpersonal skills will also increase the parents' ability to create a safe environment for their children through establishing healthy relationships.

Economic stability is very important for strengthening families. Being able to meet basic needs for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and health care are critical and often require work with adequate wages and benefits and/or other supports. Many of the children's parents are in relationships that put themselves and the child at risk because they are not able to meet their basic needs. Economic stability and/or success will enable individuals to meet their basic needs and escape from an unhealthy relationship. Stable employment with a livable wage and benefits will enable both residential and non-residential parents to contribute time and financial resources for their child's well being.

Many unmarried parents are likely to feel disempowered and overwhelmed by the challenges of their current situation. Possible ways to increase self-efficacy include building employment skills, job training, personal budgeting skills, self-help resources, and life planning and management skills. These strategies help new parents to improve self-concepts and build the confidence needed to overcome personal life challenges. Empowered individuals will be more likely to involve themselves in healthy relationships. By developing personal life skills, individuals become more independent and believe that they can achieve and deserve healthy relationships.

All families require support systems (including fragile and distressed families). Support involves hearing community-based, positive messages about the institution of marriage. The system includes legal and public assistance in securing child support and a social support group. Support systems reinforce community values, foster meaningfulness, provide resources for immediate relief, and give valuable feedback for single parents. Non-residential fathers and fathers who live with women outside of marriage are encouraged to participate by a supportive network and incentives. Fathers who attend this program or other programs may be motivated to provide the needed parental support.

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