Children whose parents have healthy relationships are at less risk for abuse, experience greater stability, and fare better on a broad range of child outcomes. We improve the lives of children through healthy couple relationships and stable homes.
Background
Through a cooperative agreement with the Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children's Bureau, the goal of the Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education Training (HRMET) project was to meet the safety, permanency, and well-being needs of vulnerable children in the child welfare system by increasing child welfare workers’ access to and implementation of relationship and marriage education.
Why it matters
The quality of the couple and co-parenting relationship influences parenting and children's well-being. A preventive approach in helping individuals and couples learn relationship skills that promote healthy couple functioning is an effective strategy for improving outcomes for parents and children alike.
The Curriculum
Through a partnership among Cooperative Extension Specialists from land-grant universities in Missouri, Georgia, North Carolina, Iowa and Arkansas, a curriculum was developed to train professionals to assess and serve the relationship needs of youth and adults in the child welfare system. The HRMET curriculum, based on concepts developed by the National Extension Relationship and Marriage Education Network (NERMEN), provides information and tools that professionals can use to teach skills that reinforce essential characteristics of healthy relationships and marriages.
Trainings in Georgia
Are you a professional who works with youth and adults and is interested in integrating relationship education skills into the services you provide to strengthen families? UGA Extension provides a 1-day training where participants receive tools and learn strategies to empower individuals with skills that can strengthen couple and family relationships.
Thank you to everyone who attended the traininings scheduled in 2015! The 2016 training schedule will be announced by March 2016. Contact the FACS county extension agent in or near your county to receive future announcements.
UGA Cooperative Extension Impact
Since 2011, 584 professionals across Georgia have completed the Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education Training. After the training, participants (a) report strong support for helping their clients develop healthy relationships, (b) have a clearer understanding of the benefts of healthy relationships on parenting, child and family welling being, (c) demonstrate significant improvements in their understanding of ways to teach relationship skills to their clients, (d) feel more confident in their ability to help clients develop healthy relationships, and (e) are using the tools and resources acquired to promote healthy couple relationships.To learn more about the impact of HMRET in Georgia, click on the reports below. For more information about the evaluation study and other publications from this project, click here.
2011-2013 Report 2014 Report 2015 Report
