Brief
As men near the stage of life where families and children become important, there can be lots of angst over whether now is the time to start a family. Take this quiz and find out how ready you are emotionally to take on the challenge of fatherhood.
NRFC Quick Statistics and Research Reviews, Brief
This fact sheet provides statistics on age of father at birth of first child by race/ethnicity, educational achievement, father's income, and marital status.
Brief
Pilot testing is a common practice in human services programs, yet programs can often do more to maximize learning from the experience of trying something new. In particular, a more intentional focus on the underlying program design assumptions and the drivers of good implementation of a new strategy can clarify and strengthen the linkages between a program strategy and its anticipated outcomes. By systematically gathering feedback and analyzing data about the implementation of a new strategy or the contextual factors that might influence outcomes, programs can more precisely identify the…
Brief
This brief explores in-depth interviews with low-income fathers enrolled in responsible fatherhood programs about their experiences with the child support system. The brief explores three main themes: 1) The challenge that economic instability poses to fathers in meeting their child support obligations; 2) Fathers’ experiences requesting modifications to make child support obligations align better with their income; and 3) Fathers’ views of the disconnection between paying child support and having access to their children. (Author abstract)
Brief
The University of Maryland School of Social Work has regularly created descriptive profiles of the public child support caseload as part of an ongoing partnership with the Maryland Child Support Administration (CSA). These profiles have focused on the characteristics and trends of cases with either current child support orders, arrears balances, or both. However, there is a substantial minority of cases that do not have any orders—these cases have comprised between 20% and 25% of caseloads in recent years (Gleason & Passarella, 2017). Nationally, U.S. Census data shows that only half…
Brief
The purpose of this brief is to draw attention to the issue of post-permanency with its focus on the family, and move attention away from re-entry, which focuses on the system. Addressing the gaps in post-permanency practices will strengthen families and prevent children from re-entering care. There are many ways to support families after exiting foster care, including establishing clear funding streams for the most effective post-permanency supports, standardizing data elements to examine who does and does not re-enter care, and conducting rigorous research to identify what has helped…
Brief
Using data from the Caregiving in the U.S. 2015 survey, this Spotlight highlights male family caregivers, providing current information about the experiences and challenges facing them today. (Author abstract modified)
Brief
This brief, one of three in a series, describes activities the Community-Centered Responsible Fatherhood Ex-Prisoner Reentry Pilot Project (Fatherhood Reentry) programs used to foster economic stability for participating fathers and their families. The brief presents recommendations, based on an implementation study of the Fatherhood Reentry projects, for practitioners implementing economic stability activities for the reentry population. (Author abstract)
Brief
This brief from MDRC introduces the Building Bridges and Bonds study (B3) to practitioners and stakeholders in the fatherhood field. It describes three innovative practices for Responsible Fatherhood programs. Each innovation is practical and interactive and addresses issues important to low-income fathers. The B3 team selected them for their high potential to provide useful lessons for the field. The team then collaborated with local fatherhood programs and program developers to tailor the innovations for B3. The brief is the first in a series of publications on B3, its findings, and the…
Brief
To better understand the challenges federal grantees face in sustaining their programs, and to learn from the successful efforts of former grantees, the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) launched a sustainability study. OAH’s sustainability study examines whether—and in what form—programs first funded in 2010 to support expectant and parenting youth and families have continued operating beyond the federal grant, and the types of strategies and resources they found useful in attempting to sustain their programs. This brief presents the first set of findings from the sustainability study. It…
