Evaluation of the Procedural Justice Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) Demonstration

In order to inform state and tribal child support agencies about the effectiveness of incorporating procedural justice principles into child support business practices as an alternative to contempt, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) will award Section 1115 grant funds under a cooperative agreement to a single state or tribal child support agency to procure and manage an evaluation through an independent third-party evaluator (i.e. a university or research firm) of the demonstration grantees approved under the forecasted companion funding opportunity announcement (FOA), titled Procedural Justice Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) (HHS-2016-ACF-OCSE-FD-1172). This cooperative agreement will allow the selected state or tribal agency to use this federal grant award and the Federal Financial Participation (FFP) associated with these grant funds to support a multi-site random assignment evaluation of all of the demonstration grantees approved under the separate companion FOA. Under the forecasted companion FOA, the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) has invited state and tribal child support agencies to submit competitive grant applications to develop and implement programs that provide an alternative to contempt by incorporating procedural justice principles into child support business practices as part of a national demonstration framework. Compliance with evaluation requirements is a condition of award under this companion FOA. In order to assess the effectiveness of the demonstration projects, the evaluation will include an impact analysis using random assignment in which eligible noncustodial parents are randomly assigned into treatment and control groups in each of the demonstration sites. The evaluation will also include: (1) an implementation study component (with interviews of program staff and stakeholders), and (2) a benefit-cost analysis. Further, the selected evaluator will provide evaluation-related guidance and assistance to the companion FOA grantees (e.g., guidance regarding how to implement random assignment; feedback and input to ensure treatments under the demonstrations are substantially different than the services control group members may access; etc.). Applicants for this grant may also submit an application under the companion funding opportunity announcement, but it is not a requirement for application or selection under this announcement. A successful applicant under this FOA may also be selected as a successful applicant under the companion funding opportunity announcement but one award is not related to the other. The recipient of this award will select a third-party organization to conduct the evaluation, and will maintain impartiality with regard to the evaluation of all project sites.