Key Features of the Demonstration and Evaluation
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The demonstration operated from late 1987 through mid-1991 in three sites:
Camden and Newark, New Jersey; and Chicago, Illinois.
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Target population: in general, all teenage mothers with one child entering
welfare
(AFDC)
for the first time as their own case (not on their mother's case) in each
site.
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Mandatory participation: the demonstration programs required these
teenage mothers to participate in education, job training, or employment-related
activities or be sanctioned until they did participate. Only a short
exemption for teens with very young infants was allowed.
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Child care, transportation, and other services were paid for or provided
by the sites as needed. The sites met such needs to eliminate major barriers
to participation in required activities.
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Case management was key: each teen was assigned to a case manager who
developed self-sufficiency plans, guided the teen to needed services, and
monitored her progress in required activities.
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All teens were required to participate in initial workshops to enhance their
personal skills, to help them cope with parental responsibilities, and to
prepare them for later education, training, and employment-related activities.
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Program costs were modest: average program spending per participant
was about $1,400 per year (not counting the AFDC grant). These direct
expenditures were supplemented by an average of about $800 per participant
in community-provided services (counting alternative educational services,
but not regular high school).
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Evaluation: An experimental design with random assignment of almost
6,000 teens, split evenly between the treatment and control group.
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Data: baseline interviews, administrative records, focus groups, in-depth
semi-structured interviews, and two follow-up surveys of the teens –
one 2.5 years and the other about 6.5 years after the teen entered the
demonstration. Special studies were conducted on child care use and
supply as well as in-home assessments of the parenting skills of the young
mothers and the well-being of their oldest children.
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The Administration for Children and
Families (ACF) funded the demonstration; both the
Assistant Secretary for Planning and
Evaluation (ASPE) and ACF jointly funded the evaluation.
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Mathematica Policy Research,
Inc. (MPR) conducted the evaluation.
Where To?
[ Teenage Parent Demonstration:
Home Page |
Timeline and Reports |
ASPE Home Page |
HHS Home Page ]