This video from the 2016 Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) reviews findings from the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project as well as lessons learned and next steps for this work. The BIAS portfolio included initiatives in the domains of work supports, child support, and child care.

Children benefit from having involved fathers, but it can be difficult to quantify a father’s level of involvement. This study compares the amount of father involvement reported by mothers with what the fathers themselves report. The researchers used data from 113 fathers and 126 mothers to assess father involvement, and they found that fathers reported significantly higher levels of involvement than mothers. When mothers reported a more positive relationship with fathers, the discrepancy in reported levels of involvement was smaller, while single mothers reported a greater level of discrepancy than married mothers. The authors emphasized the importance of obtaining reports of father involvement directly from fathers.

The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project, sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and led by MDRC, is the first major opportunity to use a behavioral economics lens to examine programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States. This report presents findings from four tests of behavioral interventions intended to increase the percentage of parents who made child support payments and the dollar amount of collections per parent in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Parents who owe child support and do not have their payments automatically deducted from their paychecks through income withholding typically need to actively initiate a new payment each month. The BIAS team examined the payment process in Cuyahoga County and diagnosed a number of behavioral factors potentially impeding collections. The team collaborated with the Cuyahoga Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) to design a number of behavioral interventions intended to increase collections and evaluate them using randomized controlled trials. (author introduction)

In most of the two-generational strategies and programs, the attention is mainly focused on mothers. However, this brief from the Center for Law and Social Policy explains the early evidence from research that shows if noncustodial parents - mostly young men - are successfully employed and in healthy relationships in their own lives, they can also contribute to more successful outcomes for their children, both financially and emotionally.

The Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Models and Measures project developed recommended measures for assessing the outcomes of healthy marriage and relationship education programs. The products focus on two key target populations: parents in complex families and adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18. For each of these populations, we developed:

1. A dynamic measures spreadsheet that summarizes the items and measures recommended for assessing a range of targeted outcomes that may be used in evaluations of programs that serve the population.

2. A companion “tip sheet” with advice on collecting data from the population. (author abstract)

This resource is the tip sheet for parents in complex families.