Project: PROCESS AND IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION OF THE PARTNERSHIP FOR FRAGILE FAMILIES INITIATIVE

Sponsor: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families and Administration for Children and Families through the Urban Institute Status: In process
IPS Staff: Burt S. Barnow and Demetra Smith Nightingale

Purpose and ApproachThe Partners for Fragile Families (PFF) demonstration program is designed to test new approaches for state-run child support enforcement programs and community-based organizations to work together to help young fathers obtain employment, make child support payments, and learn parenting skills. The set of projects funded under PFF is intended to be on the cutting edge of reaching out and serving a population of young fathers who have not been the focus of previous initiatives: never-married, noncustodial parents who do not have a child support order in place and likely face serious barriers to employment.

This project is an in-depth evaluation of the 13 PFF demonstration projects in nine states. The overall goal is to determine if changes in the way public agencies and community organizations work with unmarried parents increase the likelihood of positive outcomes for children and parents. This research effort, though not an impact study, is intended to describe participant behavior and outcomes, and to assess potential relationships between PFF program features and participant outcomes and system changes. The study involves a round of site visits to each PFF project and annual follow-up interviews with site administrators; conduct of a follow-up participant survey; and analysis of administrative data, including unemployment insurance and child support enforcement data.

Results
An interim report documented how the 13 sites implemented their programs, showing the target groups served, recruitment practices used, services provided to participants, implementation challenges, ongoing operational challenges, and lessons learned. The final report will provide an analysis of outcome data.

Publications
Martinson, K., J. Trutko, D. Nightingale, P. Holcolmb, and B. Barnow (2005). “The Implementation of the Partners for Fragile Families Demonstration Projects.” Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.

.