Statement of the Hon. Jerry Regier, Cabinet Secretary,
Oklahoma Health and Human Services, and Acting Director, Oklahoma Department of Health

Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Human Resources
of the House Committee on Ways and Means

Hearing on Welfare and Marriage Issues

May 22, 2001

Introduction - What can Government do?

Some will say that the role of government in supporting the institution of marriage should be hands-off. I strongly disagree. As the Governor's Secretary for Health and Human Services for the state of Oklahoma, I oversee 12 agencies in my Cabinet. All of these agencies commit major portions of their annual expenditures to the results of the dissolution of marriage and the breakdown of family. Expenditures on foster care, child abuse & neglect investigation, adoption, non-marital births, juvenile delinquency, and a myriad of other programs are primarily, although not always, the results of either families not forming through marriage in the first place, or because of absent parents due to divorce.

According to Census 2000 figures, more Oklahoma families are living together and are not getting married. Unmarried couples skyrocketed in our state from 27,000 in 1990 to over 53,000 in 2000. That's nearly a 100% increase. Couples give various reasons for the trend, from wanting to avoid the marriage tax penalty to wanting to try out relationships before marrying. Another Census figure shows that the largest family demographic trend in Oklahoma is the proliferation of single mother households. The number has climbed in the past ten years almost 22% to over 94,000 single moms in 2000. The latest census numbers confirm that Oklahoma needs to move forward with the Marriage Initiative to build and encourage strong, healthy marriages.

Therefore, it is not a matter of whether the government should be involved…they already ARE involved. The question is more "What role should government play to restore, promote, and honor the institution of marriage so that marriages will flourish and be strong?" Recently at a national marriage conference, a local judge from Michigan, Judge Helen Brown, put it this way...

"If you want strangers from the government, through its court representative, to tell you when you can see your child, how much money you should send them each month, how and when you can communicate, and how to divide the assets of our marriage then file for divorce. But if you want to keep the government OUT of your life…then STAY MARRIED!"

So we believe that by strengthening marriage and reducing divorce, we are promoting less government involvement in families. Most legislators, when faced with the question of what role government can or should play in marriage, will propose new legislation. But in Oklahoma we wanted to take a different approach. We started somewhere else and I want to outline that process.

Putting Marriage on the Public Agenda

In 1998, Governor Keating asked the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University economists for a joint study on what Oklahoma needed to do to become a more prosperous state. He got the usual economic analysis relating to tax issues and regulatory reform issues but then he also got some surprising results. The economic researchers found some social indicators that were hurting Oklahoma's economy. They mentioned Oklahoma's high divorce rate, high rates of child deaths due to child abuse and equally high rates of out-of-wedlock births. One OSU economist wrote in an editorial, "Oklahoma's high divorce rate and low per-capita income are interrelated. They hold hands. They push and pull each other. There's no faster way for a married woman with children to become poor than to suddenly become a single mom."

The study prompted the Governor to develop a strong social agenda that he unveiled in his 2^nd Inaugural (1999) and State of State address. He set four bold social goals and convened the nation's first Governor and First Lady's Conference on Marriage held in Oklahoma at the Governor's Mansion in March of 1999.

Building the Foundation

Knowing that the first steps are critical to making a policy plan work, it was essential that we build a solid foundation to ensure that the Governor's goal of reducing divorce and strengthening marriage was more than simply a political statement. Therefore, we followed several strategic steps:

First, we knew that such an initiative would need bold leadership. So, Governor Keating stepped out boldly and announced a specific, measurable goal--to reduce divorce in Oklahoma by 1/3 by the year 2010. We knew at the time that the state's divorce rate was #2 in the nation by state of residence, and the Governor wanted the challenge and accountability of setting a measurable goal.

We specifically rejected the idea of appointing a Commission to study marriage and divorce in Oklahoma and decided to initiate a Summit to educate broad state leadership on the issue of marriage and divorce in Oklahoma. This was a very successful beginning.

Second, we committed to certain key principles to guide us.

Our first principle was one of community collaboration and broad involvement through a multi-sector strategy. We chose to personally invite 30 leaders from each of seven sectors to the Governor and First Lady's Conference on Marriage with a purpose of educating and informing of the cost of divorce to the economy of our state, as well as the need to promote and honor marriage. Those seven sectors are: community service providers, education, business, media, religious, government, and legal.

The second key principle was to ensure leadership at the top. The Governor has been very committed to this effort, and I, as Secretary, have provided direct leadership to the plan and strategy.

The third key principle was ongoing operational management. To manage the ongoing day-to-day activities of the Marriage Initiative, we accepted bids for a Project Manager. Public Strategies, Inc., won the bid and has facilitated tasks within the parameters of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative as follows:

· Provide management of the varied projects and activities of the overall Marriage Initiative

· Plan, develop, implement and coordinate a Governor and First Lady's Annual Marriage Conference

· Plan, develop and implement a statewide marriage skills service delivery system

· Provide central point for resource materials, resource persons, and the development of a Marriage Resource Center

· Coordinate research of divorce and marriage in Oklahoma, including data gathering and analysis

· Provide media support and awareness

· Initiate, plan and implement planning and status meetings of Steering Committee, project director and staff, advisory boards, separate project managers, and sector leaders

· Develop and utilize national consultants

· Coordinate seminars, conferences and other training opportunities

The final principle was to commit significant funding. Very few public policy efforts will be successful without a commitment to funding. And since three of the four goals of the 1996 Welfare Law relate to marriage, we look to Federal TANF funds to support the Marriage Initiative. Oklahoma has dramatically reduced welfare roles by 80% over the past six years, leaving approximately $100 million in "surplus". This welfare surplus provided an excellent resource and Governor Keating boldly asked the DHS Board to set aside 10% or $10 million for Marriage Initiative programs and services. The Board concurred and the money has been reserved to fund strategies to strengthen marriage and reduce divorce.

Finally, we have committed to communicating a balance in our approach. Our efforts are targeted at strengthening marriage and not at bashing divorce. Divorce will happen, and sometimes must happen. Therefore, we want to clearly communicate the societal economic impact of divorce, as well as the value of the institution of marriage. Marriage should be encouraged as an institution to be in, rather than an institution to simply make it harder to get out of.

The Marriage Initiative Implementation - Two Parallel Tracks

The implementation of the Marriage Initiative has taken two parallel tracks--a religious track and a secular track.

The religious track was launched on Valentine's Day 2000, as leaders of almost every denomination and faith throughout Oklahoma joined the Governor and First Lady at the State Capitol to pledge that they would work toward preparing couples for the complexities of marriage. Under the leadership of Dr. Anthony Jordan, the State's religious leaders signed a marriage covenant, committing to encourage more pre-marital counseling for couples in their churches and other house of worship. They also committed to encourage and develop marriage mentoring. Since Valentine's Day 2000, over 550 religious leaders have now signed these Oklahoma Marriage Covenants.

The secular track consists of reviewing the current government infrastructure as it relates to social service delivery to see where the Marriage Initiative could capitalize on the already existing infrastructure to reach its ultimate goal of providing marital education and skills-building marriage strengthening opportunities to any Oklahoma couple. We developed training for government workers and private providers to disseminate marriage and relationship education services in all 77 counties.

The infrastructure partnership we've developed includes three existing statewide structures. First, the Oklahoma State Health Department has pledged its psychologists, child guidance staff, and home-visiting nurses. Second, Oklahoma State University has a system of "Cooperative Extension Service" educators ready to provide educational opportunities to adults. And thirdly, the Department of Human Services has social workers eager for places to refer TANF clients for marriage and relationship services. Each of the three agencies already has staff in most or all of Oklahoma's counties.

The primary goal of the service delivery system is to deliver relationship educational services to couples, both married and unmarried, that are skills-based and research-based. Marriage success can be learned. There are tools that are available that will empower the couple to communicate effectively, resolve conflict and handle other problems that, if unchecked, can lead to divorce. The chosen curriculum is the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) Co-Directors of this curriculum are Drs. Scott Stanley and Howard Markman, based at the University of Denver.

We chose this curriculum because it has the strongest research base and evaluation record. PREP was originally designed as a program to prevent marital distress and divorce, based on an empirical analysis of risk factors. While most often used with younger premarital couples the materials are also widely used to help married couples at various stages throughout the marriage.

In general, most of the best-known couples and marriage education programs have been offered to middle income white couples. By contrast PREP has been used with diverse populations including foreign countries. As an example of utilization of preventive services on a large scale, PREP is now widely utilized in all branches of the Armed Services. The preventive focus, hands on skills approach, format flexibility, and empirical basis have supported the adoption of the materials by the military. Since the armed forces are comprised of many younger couples at relatively high risk due to low income, stresses of military life, and dislocation from systems of social support, this population has some similarity to the kinds of couples and families that TANF funding was primarily targeted to aid.

The Oklahoma Marriage Initiative Scholars-in-Residence, Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, have been another resource available to Marriage Initiative projects and programs. Early on Governor Keating pledged to bring national marriage experts to the state to begin training pastors and other professionals. The Parrotts, nationally respected authors and professors of unique relationship courses at Seattle Pacific University, were recruited as "Marriage Ambassadors." Their training expertise has been available to assist thousands of Oklahomans seeking to build marriage programs and/or to strengthen their own marriages.

Based as adjunct facility out of Oklahoma State University, their contributions also include raising awareness statewide through media interviews and speaking engagements, conducing Mentor training events (both in the religious community and in the government sectors), sharing messages of positive relationship skills through conducting college and university "Can You Relate Days", and training organizations in the curriculum they developed, "Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts."

Benchmarks for Success

In Oklahoma, we are committed to evaluating the outcomes of our efforts to strengthen marriage and reduce divorce. The Oklahoma Marriage Initiative is working hard to improve the data available to assist in best targeting services and programs to appropriate populations.

The evaluation of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, to be conducted by the Bureau for Social Research at Oklahoma State University, will be comprised of: 1) a statewide poll to assess attitudes about marriage, family, and childrearing, and to collect demographic data on marriage and divorce rates in Oklahoma, 2) a multi-method evaluation of the training and delivery system, and 3) suggestions for evaluating other education and service programs. A five-part evaluation system is proposed to address these three areas.

One major part of the evaluation component is to construct a phone survey instrument that will be used to gather baseline data on attitudes about marriage and family; demographics on divorces, marriages, cohabitation; relational dynamics, etc. When right questions are asked up front, they will provide a benchmark for any changes that occur in the state. Government data on marriage and divorce is becoming harder to come by or, when found, is poorly organized, and the survey method is one way to circumvent these problems.

The Marriage Initiative Research Advisory Group, consisting of several nationally renowned and Oklahoma researchers, will assist in developing a strong research and evaluation plan. Members of that group are:

Robin Dion, PhD--is a research psychologist at Mathematica Policy Research Inc., which has offices in Washington D.C. and Princeton, N.J. This widely respected research firm has conducted studies in health care, welfare, education employment and nutrition. Dr. Dion is currently the Principal Investigator for a federally funded research project, Strengthening Families with a Child Born Out-of-Wedlock. The project grows out of the research on Fragile Families directed by Sara McLanahan (Princeton University) and Irwin Garfinkle (Columbia University).

Ron Haskins, PhD--is currently a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Co-Director of the new project Welfare Reform and Beyond. Dr. Haskins was former Majority Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Ways and Means, US House of Representatives. As such he was deeply involved in the development of the welfare reform legislation. He obtained his Ph.D. in developmental psychology at UNC- Chapel Hill. He has strong interests in research and program evaluation. Haskins was author of the 1996, 1998 and 2000 editions of the Green Book, and has published widely on welfare reform and other related subjects.

Norval Glenn, PhD-- is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Sociology and Stiles Professor of American Studies at the University of Texas. Dr. Glenn specializes in family sociology, social change and survey research. He has been involved with numerous national social indicator surveys on marriage, divorce, cohabitation, and out-of-wedlock births. His recent research has dealt with the longitudinal course of marital success.

Mark Neilson, PhD---joins the group from the National Opinion Research Center, affiliated with the University of Chicago and conducts survey research in the public interest for various agencies and organizations. The research studies done by NORC often deal with important public policy issues. They have extensive experience with collecting data via survey methods that are later used to shape and inform public policy.

Howard Markman, PhD--is a professor of psychology and co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver. He is internationally known for his work on the prediction and prevention of divorce and marital distress. Among his many published works on the subject is, "We Can Work It Out: Making Sense Out of Marital Conflict". As a co-founder of the PREP approach he has appeared nationally on many network programs.

Scott Stanley, PhD--is a senior program consultant to the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative. He is one of the co-developers of the PREP program (Prevention and Relationships Enhancement Program) which is the curriculum that will be adapted for use in the planned couple workshops. PREP is the country's only research-based, longitudinally-test marital preparation curriculum.

Theodora Oooms--is also a Senior Program Consultant to the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative. She is the Director of the Resource Center on Couples and Marriage Policy at CLASP in Washington, D.C. A former social worker and family therapist she directed the Family Impact Seminar for 17 years. Her interest areas include marriage, couples, unwed fathers, low-income families and poverty.

Oklahomans:

Pat Knaub, PhD--Oklahoma State University, College of Human Environmental Sciences

Christine Johnson, PhD--Oklahoma State University, Bureau for Social Research

Don Hebbard, EdD--Director of Marriage Education, Oklahoma Marriage Initiative

Mary Myrick, APR--Project Director of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative

Secretary Jerry Reiger--Oklahoma Health and Human Services Cabinet Secretary

Raymond Haddock--Oklahoma Department of Human Services

Conclusion

Mr. Chairman and Committee Members, Governor Keating has widely said that in Oklahoma it is easier to get a marriage license than it is to get a fishing license and it is easier to get out of a marriage than it is to get out of a Tupperware contract. We have taken significant steps in Oklahoma to change our culture of divorce.

Oklahoma has demonstrated its ability to implement the welfare reform policies of this Congress as evidenced by the fact that we received two congressional bonuses for reducing our welfare roles. In the coming months and years, you will see no less commitment from our state on this important prevention and promotion strategy…to prevent divorce by promoting marriage.

We pledge to continue to be responsible and effective with the TANF surplus resources we allocate to strengthen marriage relationships. We are appreciative of this opportunity to provide state testimony and encourage your aggressive support of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative approach to meeting the goals of TANF legislation.

Jerry Regier is Cabinet Secretary of Health and Human Services for the State of Oklahoma. A more detailed Marriage Initiative plan and update of activities can be accessed at: www.governor.state.ok.us/marriageconf.html. Email communication can be sent to jerry.regier@gov.state.ok.us or the Project Manager, mary@publicstrategies.com.