IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PARTNERS FOR FRAGILE FAMILIES DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS

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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PARTNERS FOR FRAGILE
FAMILIES DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS

• Presentation for the
• ACF 10th Annual Welfare Research and Evaluation
  Conference
• Pamela Holcomb
• The Urban Institute
• June 2007

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Participant Voices

• Fatherhood is a big responsibility. Because now
  you got this little boy or little girl whos
  going to be looking up to you, and some things
  you might do and they pick up, like boom! You
  know what Im saying? So you got to watch pretty
  much everything that you do, everybody thats
  around your child. You just got to be on your
  square because its a very big responsibility...A
  good father, a father that listens, a father
  thats there, and a father thats
  consistent...Its hard work, man. Its hard.
• Maurice (a
  PFF participant)

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Origins of PFF Project

• Developed through a collaboration between DHHS
  and the Ford Foundation
• Demo funded by DHHS OCSE and Ford Foundation
  evaluation funded by DHHS ASPE and OCSE
• 13 programs in 9 states operated from 2000 to
  2003
• Innovative features voluntary program focus on
  expecting or young fathers (ltage 25) with no
  prior involvement with the CSE system.

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Goals of PFF Demonstration

• Improve outcomes for children and their parents
• Strengthen the role of non-custodial parents in
  their families through promoting voluntary
  paternity establishment, improving employment
  outcomes and payment of child support, and
  increasing father involvement
• Improve family functioning through strengthened
  ties and commitments between young, unmarried
  parents (optimally parents still are in a
  relationship)
• Create systems change
• Make lasting changes in the way child support and
  other public agencies and community organizations
  work with and serve non-custodial parents
• Help community and faith-based organizations work
  together more productively to better serve
  fragile families

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PFF Demonstration Sites

• Center for Fathers, Families and Workforce
  Development, Baltimore, MD
• Baltimore City Department of Social Services,
  Baltimore, MD
• Family Services of Greater Boston, Boston, MA
• Boston Public Health Commission, Boston, MA
• Human Services, Inc, Denver, CO
• Father and Families Resource/Research Center,
  Indianapolis, IN
• Bienvenidos Family Services, Los Angeles, CA

• City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human
  Services, Los Angeles, CA
• Truevine Community Outreach, Los Angeles, CA
• The FATHER Project, Minneapolis, MN
• STRIVE East Harlem Employment Services, New York,
  NY
• Goodwills Children Upfront, Racine, WI
• Chester County Housing Development Corporation,
  West Chester, PA

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Evaluation Design

• Descriptive implementation study conducted in
  2003 of the PFF demos based on site visits to
  each program (administrative interviews and
  participant focus groups) and site-specific MIS
  data
• Ethnographic case studies of 8 PFF participants
  in two sites conducted between 2003-2004
• Examination of pre- and post-employment, earnings
  and child support outcomes for PFF program
  participants

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Program Design Features

• Typically operated by community-based
  organizations, but also housing, health, social
  service agencies
• Most developed collaborations to serve young
  fathers, including workforce development, health,
  and social service organizations
• Several used funding to leverage other resources
• CSE was a partner in all programs
• Programs small by design, but most also enrolled
  fewer participants than they had planned

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PFF Participant Characteristics

• Average age 21 years
• Marital Status 94 never married
• Race/Ethnicity
• African-American(67)
• Hispanic(19)
• White (8) and Other (6)
• Education 55 lacked high school diploma/GED
• Number of Children
• 64 with 1 child
• 18 with 2 children

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PFF Program Services

• Fatherhood Curriculum-based Workshop Series
  (topics included personal development, life
  skills, responsible fatherhood, relationships,
  health)
• Peer Support and Case Management
• Employment and Parenting Services (on-site or
  through referrals)
• Child Support Linkages (typically focused on
  providing assistance with understanding and
  navigating child support system through
  designated CSE staff personsometimes on-site)

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What the Participants Valued

• Program specifically designed for and responsive
  to young fathers
• Comprehensive service design and one-stop
  servicesnot just about fatherhood per se
• Development of a personal and trusted
  relationship with the case manager and other
  agency staff
• Peer supporta safe space to share with peers a
  wide range of concerns and confusions about
  fatherhood life
• Receiving help on learning how to avoid conflict
  and engage in positive interactions with the
  mother(s) of their children and to exercise good
  parenting skills with their children

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Participant Voices

• There aint too many people out there trying to
  help us out. Theyre trying to hurt us, really.
  They were trying to lock us up or just...its
  hard for us, man. Man, its hard for real
  laughs because we got so many temptemptations
  and stuff and you get somebody like this who
  trying to keep you away from it, and help you
  outpeople aint really taking advantage of it
  like they should.
• Brian (a PFF participant)

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Participant Voices

• The one-on-one counseling too...that they give is
  a tremendous help too. And, like I said, just
  other things that they do as far as, you know,
  housing placement, and on jobs and stuff like
  that....its like the stronger you are as a man,
  the better you are as a father, you know...They
  help strengthen you and like, like your
  self-esteem.
• Darnell (a PFF participant)

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Primary Operational Challenges

• Recruitment Challenges and Low Enrollment
• PFF experience is similar to other programs
  trying to reach and engage menfatherhood
  programs, marriage programs, and other programs
  suggest men can be a very difficult population to
  recruit
• Additional recruitment challenges General lack
  of interest or sustained attention on part of
  fathersin part because of age/maturity
  competing distractions and demands on time lack
  of knowledge, general fear or reservations about
  child support system
• PFF successes in overcoming recruitment
  challenges undermined by very strict eligibility
  criteria some sites eventually relaxed child
  support eligibility criteria

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Primary Operational Challenges (cont.)

• Retention challengeshigh attrition rate
• Young age of participants made them especially
  prone to being easily distracted by friends,
  work, school, the streets
• Personal problems and behaviors (e.g., arrests,
  parole violations, substance abuse relapse)
• Even best case scenariofather finds job and gets
  more involved with childrenmakes ongoing program
  participation difficult because now have less
  time available

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Preliminary Lessons from the PFF Demonstration

• Consider the high degree of difficulty associated
  with recruiting and sustaining participation for
  this population when developing eligibility
  criteria.
• Use a variety of targeted recruitment techniques,
  including referral arrangements with other
  agencies.

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Preliminary Lessons from the PFF Demonstration
(cont.)

• To appeal to fathers, providing a comprehensive
  range of services that can then be tailored to
  the individual needs of each participant is an
  important appeal to fathers.
• Services to help fathers understand the CSE
  system in the context of responsible fatherhood
  are important on-site CSE staff particularly may
  be particularly useful.
• In addition to child support, help with
  visitation and legal issues can help attract and
  retain young fathers in the program.

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Preliminary Lessons from the PFF Demonstration
(cont.)

• MIS capacity must be developed and sustained
  through substantial early and ongoing technical
  assistance and monitoringmany CBOs lack this
  capacity.
• Ethnographic case studies and focus groups
  suggest that the relationship piece is very
  complex. Working with both parents presents
  difficult challengesPFF programs typically
  focused on actively working only with the
  fathers.

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Preliminary Lessons from the PFF Demonstration
(cont.)

• Relationships between mothers and fathers often
  unstable from the start and remaining together
  not viewed as desirable or possible.
• But, these fathers can be interested in and
  receptive to learning how to develop better
  interactions and communication with the mothers
  of their children and to learn skills that enable
  them to have better relationships with
  current/future partners.

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PFF Participant Voices

• Actually, coming to PFF just made me more
  stable...Im with her (mother of his second
  child) real stable now...Im providing...for both
  of my kids, but Im pretty stable with, with the
  mother of the youngest one of them...And, um, and
  it feels good to be like a father....Like before
  if I would have worked, then I wouldnt even
  think of just saving, I would just go...go to the
  club or whatever...And I wouldnt think of the
  future...You know, like Im thinking more in
  tomorrow.
• Samuel (a PFF participant)