Healthy marriage and domestic violence programs share common ground

A discussion on “Promoting safety together: Domestic violence and healthy marriage programs” was held hosted by the Brookings Institution. Mary Myrick, project director of the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center (MNHRC), said that various healthy marriage programs and domestic violence organizations have consistently done more than what is required of them.

Oliver Williams, director of the Institute of Domestic Violence in the African American Community, moderated the discussion panel and said that there is something for everyone to learn from Healthy Marriage, Domestic Violence or Responsible Fatherhood programs. Anne Menard, executive director of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, discussed her research and emphasized that the quality of relationships matter. Menard said that children do better when they are raised by two parents with a stable economic background. She also went on to say that this does not necessarily imply children from single parent families fare worse in life. Menard said that there are several cases of children from single parent families becoming successful and well-adjusted.

According to Menard, one of the problems faced by domestic violence support centers is the fact that their programs are tailored to white middle class families. She said that more strategies are vital to cater to the culturally specific nature of various minority groups. Menard noted that, while they share common ground, healthy marriage programs should not be treated the same as domestic violence programs. When dealing to such issues, Menard said that ‘one size does not fit all’ and that there is tremendous diversity across all the programs.