Myths and Facts About the Healthy Marriage Initiative

Myth: ACF is planning on using the healthy marriage initiative to push the value of marriage on the American public.

Fact: According to the Census Bureau, over 90% of the American public are projected to marry. In addition, public opinion surveys indicate that more than 93% of Americans say that marital success is important to them. The majority of the American public already value marriage and ACF will not force marriage on anyone.

Myth: ACF is just interested in increasing marriage rates.

Fact: Healthy marriages are good for men, women and children and unhealthy marriages are not. Therefore, ACF is interested in increasing the percentage of people in healthy marriages and, most especially, the percentage of children being raised by parents in a healthy marriage. ACF doesn't want people to form any kind of marriage, it wants those who choose marriage for themselves to form and sustain a healthy marriage. The heart of the ACF healthy marriage initiative is to help people, who want the assistance, gain access to the relationship skills and knowledge that can help them form and sustain a healthy marriage. ACF is dedicating substantial resources to evaluating the effectiveness of programs designed to help individuals and couples gain the skills and knowledge to form and sustain a healthy marriage. Rigorous, long-term research is an essential component of ACF's healthy marriage initiative.

Myth: ACF plans on creating a dating service to get more people married.

Fact: ACF does not believe it is the government's role to interfere with the private decision-making of individuals and couples as to whether or not they should marry. ACF does believe that government should play a role in helping people, who want the assistance, to gain access to healthy marriage skills and knowledge so if they choose to marry they will have a better chance of forming a healthy marriage.

Myth: By placing an emphasis on promoting the healthy marriage initiative, the needs of single-parent families will be neglected.

Fact: Many billions of dollars are spent on supports and services for single-parent families. The government will continue to fund efforts that help single-parent families become self-sufficient. However, the breakdown of marriage is an important reason why many families fall into poverty. Thus, the healthy marriage initiative is a logical addition to the many services ACF employs to alleviate poverty in our society. This is about providing additional services to families without subtracting any existing services.

Myth: ACF views the healthy marriage initiative as a panacea to all of the negative social outcomes in the nation.

Fact: Researchers have found that healthy marriages are associated with positive social outcomes. This does not mean that improving marriages is the only solution needed to alleviate the negative social outcomes in the nation. Negative social outcomes are complex issues and will take a complex set of strategies to combat them. Education, job training, child care, medical insurance, affordable housing, etc. all play a key role in alleviating the negative social outcomes we face in this nation. ACF views the healthy marriage initiative as an addition to this array of services that are aimed at alleviating the negative social outcomes in our nation.

Myth: The ACF healthy marriage initiative will end up creating policies that force women to enter into, or remain in, abusive relationships.

Fact: One of the goals of the ACF healthy marriage initiative is to decrease the likelihood that women and children will be in abusive relationships. ACF is only interested in helping people, who choose marriage for themselves, to form and sustain healthy marriages. By definition abusive relationships are unhealthy. Any policies that could force people to enter into, or remain in, abusive relationships will not be tolerated by ACF.

Myth: The ACF healthy marriage initiative will force its way into one of the most private areas of peoples lives, marriage.

Fact: ACF is only interested in helping people, who choose marriage for themselves, acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to form and sustain healthy marriages.

Myth: The healthy marriage initiative is the new ACF anti-poverty program.

Fact: Work is the ACF anti-poverty program. ACF and the Federal government currently provide an array of services to support work as an anti-poverty program e.g. education, child care, food stamps, subsidized housing, etc. The healthy marriage initiative is just one additional support service that is being added to these other support services to increase the likelihood that through work families become self-sufficient.

Myth: The healthy marriage initiative is a new federal program to subsidize marriage counseling.

Fact: Counseling is an effective intervention strategy for couples in unhealthy marriages. The federal government already has other programs in place to provide counseling to low-income individuals. This initiative is about adding marriage education services as a prevention strategy to the array of services that the government provides to help families achieve positive social outcomes. Marriage education is not counseling. Marriage education services teach individuals and couples the basic relationship skills and knowledge researchers have found help couples form and sustain healthy marriages.