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Journal Article As the male prison population increases, so too does the number of children with fathers in prison. The negative impact of fatherlessness on children has been well documented. While parenting education is often seen as an effective tool to improve the quality of family relationships and foster positive outcomes for children, fathers in prison frequently are ignored or excluded from parenting programs. This mixed method study examined the impact of short term parenting education on fathers in prison who were enrolled in a 3-day parenting class. A simple experimental design was coupled with…
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Journal Article We identify multiple predictors of five types of father involvement in 167 low- to moderate-income two-parent Mexican American families with fifth-grade children. Analyses show that fathers' egalitarian gender attitudes and mothers' education are associated with higher levels of father involvement. Fathers are more involved in monitoring and interacting with children when families place more emphasis on family rituals, they are more involved in supervising children when mothers are employed more hours, and they perform more housework when mothers earn more and the family is under economic…
This demonstration program tested a model for addressing the systemic factors that influence father involvement in case planning in the state of Washington, such as staff training and agency policies. Pilot programs were implemented in four offices in one region of Washington, as well as in San Mateo County, California. This fourth report of the project highlights findings from three waves of data collection activities with fathers of children who entered the child welfare system between September 2002 and February 2003, and from families that were identified as eligible between March 2003…
A study investigated the perceptions of 34 caseworkers and supervisors who participated in five focus group discussions on unwed fathers' involvement in permanency planning. The impact of parental statuses on caseworkers' capacity and inclinations to engage unwed fathers in child welfare permanency planning is examined, as well as how gender, socioeconomic status, child welfare, and family policies and practices collectively shape institutional opportunities and responses to paternal participation among unwed fathers in child welfare services. 35 references. (Author abstract modified)
This conference was to educate, inform, and assist stakeholders from across Alabama about ACF's priority initiatives, to aggressively incorporate the initiatives throughout ACF programs and communities to strengthen families. The focus was on the importance of partnering faith- and community based programs with ACF at the State and local levels to bring fatherhood, healthy marriages, and youth development to strengthen families and to improve the quality of life for children, mothers, fathers, and communities. (Author abstract)
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Marriage has become a major component of the TANF reauthorization debates, as proposals in the Senate, House, and White House have allocated significant resources to marriage promotion activities and related research. Although there is an existing body of research on marriage from fields such as psychology, demography, and child development, research on marriage policy is sparse. In September 2003, the National Poverty Center hosted a conference to synthesize what is known from existing research about marriage policies and family formation issues.This issue of the forum describes two recent…
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Journal Article This article provides the first individual-level estimates of the change over time in the probability of nonresidence for initially resident fathers in the United States. Drawing on the 1968-1997 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we used discrete-time event history models to compute the probabilities of nonresidence for six 5-year periods. Our sample consists of men (N = 1,388) who are coresident with their biological children at the time of birth. We found that the observed probability of nonresidence doubled over the three decades of the study period, but not linearly. The risk…
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Journal Article Using data from the June 1980 Current Population Survey, Morgan, Lye, and Condran (1988) reported that families with a daughter have a higher divorce risk than families with a son. They attribute this finding to the higher involvement of fathers in raising a son, which in turn promotes marital stability. We investigate the relation between gender composition of children and parents' divorce risk with cross-national data from the Fertility and Family Survey. These data, which cover 16 European countries, Canada, and the United States, do not support a general hypothesis that sons contribute…
Do you desire to unleash the potential in your kids? Do you want them to stand on your shoulders and soar to unfathomable heights? In The Difference a Father Makes, Ed Tandy McGlasson challenges dads to excel in fatherhood and equips them to do so. Using the model of Jesus and God the Father, he contends that setting up goal lines in the lives of children, marking when they enter into adulthood, is a must -- and a father's job does not end there. In a powerful way, he answers the "Yeah, but how?" question every man asks after being stirred to be a good father. Discover the potential you have…
Wild at Heart helped men to rediscover their masculine hearts--to be the men God designed them to be. Now this small book goes a step further, encouraging fathers to pass this insight on to their children. It is not by accident, contends John Eldredge, that little boys dream of being heroes and little girls dream of being rescued by a prince. It is woven into the very fiber of the sexes. Men struggle with this most pivotal role, and Eldredge's writing is the affirmation and encouragement each man needs.Eldredge gives fathers a look inside both themselves and their sons and daughters,…
