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Journal Article In his new book, The Marriage Problem: How Our Culture Has Weakened Families, James Q. Wilson argues that "in much of the Western and Caribbean worlds, marriage is in trouble." Wilson reports that the results have been devastating, especially for children. He calls for cultural and institutional changes that would strengthen marriage. Meanwhile, in a recent edition of The American Prospect, Janet C. Gornick argued that feminists are not opposed to marriage, and that feminists and conservatives should be able to find some common ground. For example, both would like to strengthen fathers' ties…
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Journal Article Despite research that substantiates the importance of father involvement in children's lives, family-centered child welfare services continue to be oriented toward the child's mother. This newsletter from the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice explains how child welfare services can engage fathers in the lives of their children. The articles suggest strategies such as family conferencing, support services, and outreach to fathers in prison or on parole. The findings from research about the positive and negative aspects of father involvement are discussed.…
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Journal Article This study examined the effects of an empowerment intervention, Men as Teachers, on African American Head Start fathers. Fathers were randomly assigned to the empowerment program or to a control group in which participants viewed a five-part videotape series on parenting. The results revealed a significant improvement in fathers' attitudes about their ability to teach their preschool-age children for the experimental group only. There was no significant improvement in these fathers' attitudes about racial oppression socialization practices. Resident fathers in the experimental group showed…
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Journal Article The lead article for this special issue draws attention to the dangers facing fatherhood in the United States today. Several groups of fathers are identified whose parenting roles could be at-risk. They include fathers who are no longer in their children's lives, are functioning in underutilized ways, and/or are struggling with limited preparedness. At-risk fathers comprise several types of residential and nonresidential fathers identified in this article. Residential fathers could include lower income fathers without adequate employment, single custodial dads, and fathers with special needs…
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Journal Article The exploration of ideas and mechanisms for assisting men in their paternal responsibilities encompasses a wide range of possibilities. Demonstration research projects, grassroots educational programs, and community-led initiatives all have a role in shaping fathers' lives and activities. The development of state and federal-level policy approaches to strengthen fatherhood is an important trend among these efforts. This paper provides a brief conceptual and histortical perspective on public policy initiatives related to fatherhood, reviews the status of current federal and state policy…
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Journal Article This article describes the evolving experiences of one program director responding to the call to establish a "fatherhood initiative" in Davidson County, North Carolina. The fatherhood initiative described herein is one of the numerous initiatives currently being implemented across the country to assist fathers and families. The author assumes a personal narrative writing style to related those frustrations and joys, challenges and breakthroughs, and successes and failures that are likely to occur in other such enterprises. (Author abstract).
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Journal Article In 1998, the 122nd General Assembly of the State of Ohio created the Ohio Task Force on Family Law and Children (Task Force). The General Assembly had concluded that the parent-child relationship is of fundamental importance to the welfare of a child, and that the relationship between a child and each parent should be fostered unless inconsistent with the child's best interest. The Task Force was instructed to make recommendations on how to create a more civilized and constructive parenting process for children whose parents do not reside together. Qualitative and quantitative data regarding…
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Journal Article The issues related to divorced fathers and their children have received considerable attention in the research literature. We have grown in our understanding of how to improve the post-divorce relationship between father, child, and mother. However, much less attention has been paid to the issues faced by non-residential never-married fathers and their children. This is unfortunate, for the rate of children born into never-married relationships is on the rise. It is the purpose of this paper to provide a clearer picture of the issues faced by these fathers. In addition, this paper will…
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Journal Article In-depth interviews with a Chicago sub-sample of both unwed fathers and mothers in the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, conducted at six weeks and again at three months following the focal child's birth, builds upon subsequent survey analysis examining paternal involvement among unwed parents. Collectively, the findings form a conceptual framework for examining and facilitating paternal involvement and family development via the couple relationship context. Social work practice strategies, building upon a strengths-based perspective, are proposed with a focus on engaging an often…
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Journal Article Although a number of socioeconomic forces have converged across cultures to make fathering one of the more prominent social issues of the new millennium, the status of substance-abusing men as fathers is rarely acknowledged in the conceptualization of public policy, service delivery or research focusing on the adverse consequences of drug and alcohol abuse. In this commentary, the authors call for the substance abuse research community to expand understanding of fathering occurring across cultures in the context of chronic substance abuse. Building upon research being undertaken with other…
