Design, Sites, and Data Sources
The evaluation of PFS included more than 5,000 fathers in the program’s target population. Starting in 1994, each one was randomly assigned to the PFS group, which was required to participate in the program, or to a control group. Because fathers were assigned to one or the other group at random, the two groups did not differ at the outset of the study. Therefore, any differences between them that emerged during the study’s two-year follow-up period are attributable to PFS.
PFS operated in seven sites:
- Dayton, Ohio
- Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Los Angeles, California
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Springfield, Massachusetts
- Trenton, New Jersey
The program’s effects were assessed using unemployment insurance records, child support agency records, and surveys of a subset of fathers in the study and the custodial mothers of their children.