© Child Trends 2004
PARENTS' FAIR SHARE DEMONSTRATION (PFS)
OVERVIEW
The Parents' Fair Share Demonstration (PFS) was implemented in an effort to increase the capacity and willingness of noncustodial parents to support their children. PFS was executed in seven different states across the country from 1994 to 1996. The program provided noncustodial parents, the majority of whom were fathers, with a variety of services to encourage child support payments, employment and earnings as well as involvement in their children's lives. On the whole, PFS had a slight impact on formal child support provided by fathers but did not seem to influence paternal employment or improve levels of involvement with child.
Target population: The Parents' Fair Share Demonstration was directed at low-income, urban, noncustodial parents. Program eligibility required that parents have at least one child on welfare, child support infractions, be unemployed or in a low-wage job, as well as be part of the Child Support Enforcement system.
PFS was designed to address a variety of needs among this population. One concern was how parents would cope amid the increasing shift of responsibility from public welfare to families. Another was the fear that these families were predominantly low-income and would therefore have a difficult time meeting these new responsibilities and finally, that the worsening labor market would prevent parents from ever reaching self-sufficiency. In exchange for cooperation with the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) system, community organizations collaborated to provide various services under the umbrella of PFS.
PFS offered peer support groups, employment and training sessions, to help with mediation between parents. The goal was to improve a noncustodial parent's involvement with his child. According to PFS, involvement consisted of formal and informal child support, frequency of contact with the child and custodial parent, as well as other measures of active involvement.
Knox, V.W. & Redcross, C. (2000). Parenting and providing: The impact of parents' fair share on paternal involvement. New York: MDRC.
Evaluated population: The Parents' Fair Share Demonstration targeted 5,611 parents without custody of their children. Of those noncustodial parents involved, 74 percent were in good health, 60 percent were African-American, 23 percent were Hispanic, 15 percent were white, 47 percent did not hold a high school diploma, and they had an average annual income of $5,863.
Approach: Noncustodial fathers were randomly assigned to a control group or to the PFS group upon entering the program. The average noncustodial parent participated in PFS for five months; two-thirds of the PFS group participated in at least one activity. The evaluation used four different sources to collect data on the participants. Outcome data were collected approximately twelve months after enrollment, subsequent to completion of the program.
The primary data source was a custodial parent survey in which 2,005 parents responded either in person or over the phone. The response rate was approximately 90.2%. Child Support Enforcement also supplied payment records, PFS collected a Background Information Form, and noncustodial parents completed a survey as well. 553 fathers (78%) responded to the survey; however 102 of them were excluded because they lived with the custodial parent.
Measures of fathers' involvement included financial support (formal and informal, as well as in-kind) and nonfinancial involvement (contact with child, parenting and parents' relationship). It is important to note that outcome data includes all participants referred to PSF although only 70% actually participated in the program.
Results: The program's impact was evaluated according to financial support, father-child contact, involvement in child rearing, and conflict between parents. For purposes of this guide, we will only consider outcomes directly related to child wellbeing. Father-child contact was measured by the frequency or length of visits and did not change significantly among PFS parents. Those parents with particularly low visitation rates, however, seemed to benefit the most. The PFS program also has no apparent effect on a father's involvement in child rearing. Finally, conflict with parents revealed that most parents did not change the amount they interacted; however there was a small increase in those who reported frequent disagreements. It is important to note that the parents did not report simultaneous increases in conflict, which may indicate that parents were simply struggling to share the responsibility of parenting.
Knox, V.W. & Redcross, C. (2000). Parenting and providing: The impact of parents' fair share on paternal involvement. New York: MDRC.
Website: http://www.mdrc.org/project_12_39.html
Program categorized in this guide according to the following:
Evaluated participant ages: all ages / Program age ranges in the Guide: 0-5, 6-11, 12-14
Program components: parent or family component
Measured outcomes: social and emotional health and development
Program information last updated on 12/15/08.
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© Child Trends 2004 |