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March 2020Vol. 21, No. 2Family Strengthening Report 2018

The Division of Family Strengthening (DFS), which is housed within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), released a report, Family Strengthening Research 2018, that describes major OPRE DFS family-strengthening projects.

The report details efforts made in the following areas:

  • Supporting fatherhood
  • Strengthening relationships
  • Home visiting
  • Supporting positive youth development and transitions to adulthood
  • Preventing family violence

Each section highlights projects and evaluations related to each family-strengthening effort. The section on supporting fatherhood, for example, discusses several projects, including Building Bridges and Bonds, an evaluation study of responsible fatherhood programs that is testing innovative approaches for serving fathers, including cognitive behavioral interventions, play-based parenting, and a smartphone-based mobile application called DadTime. The report also includes links to cross-cutting and other research.

To read the full report, visit https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/family_strengthening_research_oct_2019.pdf (8,700 KB).