The promotion of marriage and two-parent families became an explicit public policy goal with the passage of the 1996 welfare reform bill. Marriage has the putative effect of reducing welfare dependency among single mothers, but only if they marry men with earnings sufficient to lift them and their children out of poverty. Newly released data from…

The promotion of marriage and two-parent families as a strategy to reduce welfare dependency continues to be a major public policy goal of the 1996 welfare reform. Based on the assumption that women will marry employed men and that their earnings will lift poor mothers and their children from public dependency, this objective raises important…

Considers how different types of economic support, received soon after the birth of a first child, contribute to the later self-sufficiency of young, unmarried mothers. Findings suggest that certain economic supports assist these mothers and that life choices they make after their child's birth are important to self-sufficiency. (RJM)