Population: Families

Single-Parent Families

Single-parent families are more likely than two-parent families to live in poverty. Not surprisingly, many of the participants in MDRC’s evaluations and demonstrations across policy areas are single parents and their families.

The Latest

Report

Tools for Better Practices and Better Outcomes

The Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services demonstration used insights from behavioral science to develop interventions that could improve child support services. This report summarizes findings from 22 interventions that tested a range of design principles from behavioral science — for example, simplification, personalization, and reminders.

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Brief

Meetings and Reminders

Much child support is collected through income withholding, but it takes time to establish automatic deductions from parents’ paychecks. In the interim, parents must make payments manually, and often do not. This brief describes an intervention in Colorado that increased payment amounts during these first months after order establishment.

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Key Documents

Report

Paths to Advancement for Single Parents

This report from the national Employment Retention and Advancement Project examines the 27,000 single parents who participated in the studied programs to understand the characteristics of those who successfully advanced in the labor market.

The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) Project

As the first major effort to use a behavioral economics lens to examine human services programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States, the BIAS project demonstrated the value of applying behavioral insights to improve the efficacy of human services programs.

Head Start Connects Focus Area: Preschool Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Work Support and Asset Building Population: Children and Schools Families Populations with Barriers to Employment Low-Income Populations Intervention: Case Management	Get Ready Guilford Initiative Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Children and Schools Low-Income Populations Intervention: School Readiness, Case Management, Coordinated Care/Care Management, Home Visiting Locations: North Carolina	Child First Focus Area: Health Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Low-Income Populations Intervention: Home Visiting Locations: Connecticut, North Carolina
Understanding Poverty: Childhood and Family Experiences Focus Area: Family Relationships Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Population: Low-Income Populations Families	Family Rewards 2.0 Focus Area: Financial Incentives Two-Generation Programs High School Elementary and Middle School Population: Low-Income Populations Children and Schools Families Intervention: Financial Incentives Locations: New York, Tennessee	The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation, Long-Term Follow-Up Focus Area: Health Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Low-Income Populations Intervention: Home Visiting
Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt Focus Area: Family Relationships Two-Generation Programs Child Support Population: Families Low-Income Populations Locations: Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia	The Kansas Child Support Savings Initiative Focus Area: Child Support Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Intervention: Asset Building, Behavioral Interventions Locations: Kansas	Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) Project Focus Area: Child Support Two-Generation Programs Family Relationships Population: Families Low-Income Populations Intervention: Behavioral Interventions Locations: California, Colorado, Dist. of Columbia, Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, Washington
The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE)-Strong Start Focus Area: Health Family Relationships Population: Families Low-Income Populations Intervention: Home Visiting Locations: California, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin	Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE) Focus Area: Health Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Low-Income Populations Intervention: Home Visiting	Opportunity NYC Demonstrations Focus Area: Financial Incentives Two-Generation Programs High School Elementary and Middle School Population: Low-Income Populations Children and Schools Families Intervention: Financial Incentives Locations: New York
Design Options for Home Visiting Evaluation Focus Area: Health Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Low-Income Populations Intervention: Home Visiting

Nudges to Increase Customer Engagement (NICE) in Child Support Programs Focus Area: Child Support Two-Generation Programs Family Relationships Population: Families Low-Income Populations Intervention: Behavioral Interventions Locations: New York	New Chance Focus Area: Two-Generation Programs Population: Young Adults Intervention: Parenting Skills Programs, Case Management, Counseling/Advising, GED Completion, Job Training, Employment Services Locations: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania	Evaluation of Child Care Subsidy Strategies Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education Population: Low-Income Populations Families Locations: Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington
The UK Employment Retention and Advancement Project Focus Area: Job Retention and Advancement Financial Incentives Population: Low-Income Populations Families Intervention: Employment Services, Financial Incentives, Job Training, Reemployment Programs, Welfare-to-Work Locations: United Kingdom

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Single-Parent Families

Current Projects

Completed Projects