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Journal Article This project explored the integration of Responsible Fatherhood within Foster Care Service within Philadelphia Pennsylvania. It was hypothesized that the key to reducing the number of children who are at risk of entering, re-entering and remaining in various systems of care are the social service programs and systems created to meet the needs of children. One element to improve the outcomes for children is to establish that engaging fathers of foster children can be important not only for the potential benefit of a child-father relationship but also for making placement decisions and…
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Journal Article In this article, we test how out-of-home placement affects men's labor market attachment, and in so doing we provide a novel parallel to existing research on how fatherhood affects men, which focuses almost exclusively on a child's arrival. Using population panel data from Denmark that include all first time fathers whose children were placed in out-of-home care from 1995 to 2005, we find that having a child placed in care is associated with up to a 4 percentage point increase in welfare dependency. Having a child placed in out-of-home care appear to aggravate conditions that likely…
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Journal Article The Incredible Years (IY) Parent and Child Series are evidence-based interventions that increase knowledge and mastery of parenting, mood regulation, and interpersonal problem solving strategies for caregivers while developing similar social and emotional skills in their children. Rogers, Bobich, and Heppell (2016) use a case study approach to examine the effectiveness of adaptations of the IY program for delivery in a transitional housing shelter. They describe strategies for modifying IY to meet the needs of a vulnerable population within the context of the shelter and the broader welfare…
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Journal Article The commentaries by Williams (2016) and Gartenberg and Lang (2016) on the case of Cathy and her mother Ms. Z (Rogers, Bobich, & Heppell, 2016) explore the similarities between children who have been homeless and those in the foster system, and highlight the importance of trauma-focused treatment to address their mental health needs. A further consideration of the challenges to obtaining such treatment due to system barriers, stigma, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma is applied to the case of Cathy. This illustrates the importance of an array of mental health treatment…
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Journal Article The authors conducted a content analysis of appellate court foster care cases in which fathers appealed the termination of their parental rights. Applying the Responsible Fathering framework to organize the contextual issues that impede men from responsibly fathering, the authors sought to learn what factors affect decisions regarding the termination of their parental rights. Multiple risk factors emerged including lack of social support, financial resources, and opportunities. Implications for practitioners include attending to father's mental health, alcohol and/or substance abuse, issues…
Other, Book
This guide explores a range of opportunities and challenges faced by kinship caregivers in Oregon. It starts with common issues faced by family members caring for relative children and moves on to provide resources for those families. The guide begins with information on the number of children living in households headed by grandparents or other relatives and the challenges kinship caregivers face. A checklist is then provided of important things caregivers should do right away when they begin to care for children. Following sections review information on meeting the emotional and behavioral…
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Journal Article The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched the Fatherhood Initiative to facilitate increased fatherhood engagement. To understand how fatherhood identification in child welfare care planning influences outcomes, a secondary data analysis study was conducted to answer the following questions: Are cases that identify fathers associated with decreased time in foster care, shorter time to permanent placement, more reunifications, and increased use of kinship permanency? The children in cases that identified fathers spent more time with a parent during their child welfare case and…
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Journal Article This study uses longitudinal data from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth to examine father-child contact between fathers who aged out of foster care and their children (N = 287 children of 150 fathers). The authors examine the effect of remaining in foster care after age 18 and find that it is positively associated with father-child contact when fathers are age 26. Some of this relationship is explained by positive associations between remaining in care, employment, and men's coresidence with the child's mother, and a negative association with criminal…
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Journal Article The purpose of this exploratory focus group study was to examine child welfare professionals' (n = 22) experiences with and perspectives towards working with fathers. The six themes that emerged from the thematic analysis contrasted sharply with earlier research findings and indicated that child welfare professionals skillfully engage fathers and that some fathers trust the system and are motivated to be involved. The findings revealed insights about foster fathers and working with foster parents. Unique regional issues also emerged as a factor that affect fathers and families.…
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Journal Article Incarcerated parents with children in foster care face many challenges staying connected. It can be difficult to access services, set up visits and reunite after release. Parents with sentences longer than 15 months are at risk of permanently losing their rights to their children. In this issue, parents in prison write about their efforts to stay connected to their children in foster care despite their incarceration and to reunify after release. (Author abstract)
