Marriage-Plus

Publication Date: April 2002

Publisher: Center for Law and Social Policy

Author(s): Theodora Ooms

Research Area: Social conditions

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

This is an annotated version of an article originally published in a special issue of The American Prospect on "The Politics of the American Family," April 8, 2002. Ooms describes the current debate about the role of federal and state governments in promoting marriage. She suggests that liberals and conservatives might find consensus on a "marriage-plus" agenda, which would put the well-being of children first by helping more of them grow up in married, healthy, two-parent families. A marriage-plus agenda does not promote marriage just for marriage’s sake. It acknowledges that married and unmarried parents, mothers and fathers, may need both economic resources and non-economic supports to increase the likelihood of stable, healthy marriages and better co-parenting relationships. In addition, a marriage-plus agenda focuses more on the front end (making marriage better to be in) rather than the back end (making marriage more difficult to get out of).