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Organizations with a history of working with young, low-income men were required to develop partnerships with local child support agencies before enrolling noncustodial fathers in the intervention. Noncustodial fathers age 30 or younger who were earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level were eligible to participate in the intervention group. To form the two comparison groups, evaluators used propensity score matching to select two groups of noncustodial fathers from two data sets (one from the comparison group of another evaluation called the Parents’ Fair Share demonstration, and one from the Fragile Families survey public data set). These groups of noncustodial fathers were similar to the Fathers at Work participants in terms of demographic variables such as age, race, criminal conviction status, work experience, and age of their child.
2001–2004
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Workforce agencies
The program was piloted for six months to a year (depending on the site) before the evaluation.
The six Fathers at Work sites provided employment, fatherhood, and child support services. Employment services focused on short-term job readiness training and job search assistance; the sites also offered limited skills training and paid transitional work. Fatherhood services were focused on peer support groups and workshops to teach parenting and communication skills. Child support services included information about the importance of providing formal child support, modifying child support orders, reducing penalties for arrears, and other services.
The comparison group was drawn using propensity score matching from the comparison group of the MDRC’s Parents’ Fair Share demonstration that did not receive services.
None.
About 12 months
Community-based organizations partnered with child support agencies in six urban communities.
Parenting and co-parenting;