The impact of divorce is obvious and enormous. Not only is it
devastating to couples, but is particularly destructive to children.
Children of divorced parents are twice as likely to drop out of school,
three times as apt to have a baby out of wedlock and twelve times as
likely to be incarcerated than those from intact homes. Sadly, the
reported divorce rate in New Mexico is nearly double that of the
national rate, with only four states reporting higher divorce figures.
The good news is that research shows that relationship skills can be
learned. Once learned, these skills can facilitate communication
between marriage partners, helping them to avoid conflict and reducing
domestic violence, child abuse, divorce and its impacts. The Family
Lifeline promotes and delivers the skills and education needed
to help all couples make their marriages happy and healthy!
The health of a marriage is inextricably linked to the health of a
family. Where marital issues arise, whether in the form of arguments,
infidelities, verbal or even physical abuse, there are huge impacts on
children and other dependents. Additionally, the cost to
taxpayers from family break ups exceeds $230 million dollars
annually in the state of New Mexico!
The Family Lifeline's aim is to promote healthy and sustainable marriages by providing premarital and marital education to couples throughout New Mexico. Our programs teach the skills that couples need to communicate, resolve conflict and build stronger relationships.
Our services include:
- Premarital training and marriage enrichment courses - which we deliver at the invitation of businesses, churches, community organizations and family service providers;
- Couple to couple mentoring for those considering marriage or experiencing relationship difficulties;
- One-to-one mentoring;
- A lending library of books and videos on marriage and parenting;
- A quarterly newsletter on marriage and family issues;
- A series of other marriage education events throughout the year.
The Family Lifeline is eager to work together with other
family service providers to ensure that families throughout New Mexico
have access to a comprehensive range of resources to strengthen their
marriages and build happy,
healthy families. We invite your organization to contact us if our
programs and services could be of benefit to the communities or
individuals that you serve and complement the services that you provide.