Marriage and Family Courts

Programs keep marriages strong after childbirth

Here Comes Baby, There Goes the Marriage - WSJ.com. According to this Wall Street Journal article by  Andrea Petersen, "About two-thirds of couples see the quality of their relationship drop within three years of the birth of a child ...  Mothers' satisfaction in their marriages plummets immediately; for men, the slide is delayed a few months."

People are actually doing something about this, and it is working: 

-- "A growing number of hospitals, midwives and doulas (birth coaches who provide physical and emotional support) are teaching relationship skills alongside childbirth education classes."

-- "a 12-hour Bringing Baby Home workshop for expectant and new parents, developed by the Relationship Research Institute, teaches "four steps of constructive problem solving." .. The Relationship Research Institute has trained about 800 people to lead Bringing Baby Home programs since the course's launch in 2005. The program is now offered to couples in at least 17 hospitals across the country. ... In a 2005 study in the Journal of Family Communication, the marital quality for women taking the Bringing Baby Home workshop was relatively stable from just before their child's birth to the first birthday. Women in the control group who weren't in the program faced a marked decline in marital quality during that time."

-- "Another study published in 2006 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology showed that expectant couples and new parents who participated in 24 weekly group counseling meetings experienced a much smaller decline in marital satisfaction over about five years compared with parents who didn't have the counseling. The rate of divorce, however, was the same for both. The study followed 66 couples with children and 13 childless couples. (Those without kids didn't see a decline in marriage satisfaction.)"

 

"Marshall Plan for Marriage" includes creative new ideas

A Plan for Rebuilding Marriage and Family in America | The Heritage Foundation.
Although this report was issued by a conservative foundation, its specific proposals are nonpartisan, creative, and focused on cultural recovery, not culture wars -- kind of like the original Marshall Plan. Its points are:

"Principle #1: The decision to marry is inherently economically beneficial to couples and their children, if any. Any form of financial penalty in tax policy that masks or subverts this reality and deters marriage should be eliminated."

"Principle #2: Policymakers and program managers should encourage pro-marriage messaging in existing government programs and other already available resources."

"Principle #3: States should recognize that a significant percentage of divorcing couples, especially those with children, would respond to reconciliation efforts and restore their marriages. States should develop policies and programs that maximize the reconciliation option."

"Principle #4: Policymakers should study, recognize, and reward success in marriage, recognizing the power of the bully pulpit and civic leadership to shape consensus and define progress."