The fiscal year 2006 federal budget bill--known as the "Deficit Reduction Act of 2005" (DRA)--provides $100 million per year for five years to fund healthy marriage promotion efforts, and $50 million per year over five years for responsible fatherhood programs. A brief description of each of the funds is included in this overview. (Author abstract modified)
One of the more important developments in American society in recent years has been the growth of awareness of the importance of responsible fatherhood to the well-being and proper development of children and to the health of the society as a whole. It would be an exaggeration to claim that a consensus has emerged on this issue--there remains a few "family diversity" advocates who deny the importance of fathers and what they do for children. But those who deny the importance of fatherhood seem to be increasingly irrelevant in the public discourse.Important unanswered questions remain, however…
This report is a summary of an evaluation of TSA'sYoung Fathers Project (2002-2004). The project was initiated by the (then) Home Office's Family Policy Unit (now incorporated within the Children and Families Directorate, Department for Education and Skills (DfES). Ministers and officers were concerned about high levels of teenage pregnancy in England and the lack of services to support young fathers. The project was influenced by research that showed how children benefit if their fathers are actively involved in their lives in positive ways. The Trust for the Study of Adolescence was…
This E.D. TAB presents findings about children's biological fathers from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a nationally representative study of young children, their families, and their early care and education environments. The need to better understand the role that fathers play in promotingtheir children's health and education has been recognized and the ECLS-B has been viewed as an important tool to examine specific roles fathers play in children's development and well-being.
The ECLS-B is one of the first nationally representative studies of children…
Young children are not physically fit just because they are young. Head Start programs can make a major contribution to promoting good health and strong bodies for children by intentionally integrating appropriate physical activity and wise nutrition choices into their daily routines. A deliberate and "active start" in Head Start can improve children's physical, mental and social development - all of which are critical to school readiness. Through greater intentionality, we can increase children's protective factors against chronic disease and obesity across their entire lifespan, and build a…
Esta guía del Departamento de Educación de los Estados Unidos está diseñada para padres de niños entre los 10 y 14 años de edad, que son los primeros años de la adolescencia. La guía ofrece información práctica respaldada por investigaciones científicas para que los padres ayuden a sus hijos adolescentes en el hogar o en la escuela. La guía incluye capítulos sobre la comunicación familiar, la independencia de los hijos, las amistades, la escuela, los medios de comunicación, la lectura, la motivación y otros temas de interés para padres con hijos adolescentes. Una hoja de consejos generales…
Although a large body of research examines early female fertility, there is considerably less demographic research on male fertility. This study seeks to fill this gap by describing the timing of early fatherhood transitions and examining the family background factors associated with early fertility transitions. The authors tested for differences in these patterns from ages 15 to 24 by sex, race, and cohort. To test the robustness of results, they used the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth and the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. With a few exceptions, estimates of…
In this paper, we use data from the first two waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study toexamine the effects of child gender on father involvement and to determine if gender effects differ by parents' marital status. We examine several indicators of father involvement, including whether the father acknowledges "ownership" of the child, whether the parents live together at year one, and whether the father makes investments of time and money when the child is one year old. We find some evidence that child gender is associated withunmarried father involvement around the time of…
CFFPP conducted focus groups with staff from county child welfare agencies to gain an understanding of the issues they confront as they work with children and their families. These were held in southeastern Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Dane, Racine, and Rock counties), which together represent the some of the state's highest caseload of children involved with the child welfare system. Through the focus groups, CFFPP intended to explore not only specific child welfare policies and practices that enhance or deter father involvement, but also other state policies that can affect father involvement (e.g…
Fathers are increasingly expecting to be involved in hands-on caregiving, and the co-parental dynamic arising from the partners' beliefs about father involvement may impact the couple's relationship. Using the first two waves of the Fragile Families survey, this paper investigates the two partners' beliefs about the importance of fathers' caregiving. When partners do not believe that fathers' caregiving is important, they are more likely to end their union. Unmarried partners are less likely to marry if the mother does not believe that fathers' caregiving is very important. Together, these…
