US Department of Health and Human ServicesAbout Us
National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse : Factsheet (PDF - 71 KB)
National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse : Hoja Informativa (Spanish) (PDF - 77 KB)
Who We Are
The National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) is a service of the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Office of Family Assistance (OFA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NRFC captures information about policies, priorities, trends, research findings, promising practices, and emerging lessons from the field and helps key audiences translate that knowledge into policies and practices that make a difference for fathers, children, families, and communities.
NRFC Purpose
The NRFC collects and shares information that promotes and supports the Responsible Fatherhood field, and specifically supports ACF-funded Promoting Responsible Fatherhood grantees. The NRFC also serves as a central source for the public to learn more about the importance of Responsible Fatherhood and fatherhood issues.
The NRFC promotes and supports Responsible Fatherhood in an effort to advance the fatherhood movement, and support fathers and families. The long-term goals of the NRFC are to have its efforts help support the emergence of more well-functioning, economically independent families and stronger communities in line with the long term-goals of OFA—family self sufficiency and economic independence.
NRFC Activities
The primary objectives of the NRFC are to:
- Promote responsible, caring, and effective parenting
- Enhance the abilities and commitment of unemployed or low-income fathers to provide material support for their families and to avoid or leave welfare programs
- Improve fathers' ability to effectively manage family business affairs
- Encourage and support healthy marriages and married fatherhood
Specifically, the NRFC is responsible for:
- The design, promotion and distribution of a media campaign to raise responsible fatherhood awareness
- The development of a national clearinghouse and Web site that promotes and supports Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood
- The provision of technical assistance to ACF-funded demonstration programs
NRFC Partners
OFA has contracted with the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) to develop the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse. NFI has brought together the expertise of Caliber/ICF International, and the AdCouncil, along with partners Child Trends and the Hispanic Communication Network, to form the NRFC team. The team will work closely with OFA to provide support to ACF Responsible Fatherhood grantees and individuals and organizations throughout the U.S. interested in learning more about how to form, support and promote Responsible Fatherhood programs.