red dot icon
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…
red dot icon
Journal Article
An online survey was distributed via snowball sampling and resulted in responses from 61 gay fathers raising children in 2 states. Fathers reported on the barriers they experienced and the pathways they took to becoming parents. They reported also on experiences of stigma directed at them and their children, especially from family members, friends, and people in religious institutions. Despite these difficulties they reported that they engaged actively in parenting activities and that their child(ren)’s well-being was consistent with national samples. (Author abstract)
red dot icon
Journal Article
This article reports the findings of a narrative study of 23 foster fathers involved with an independent foster care agency. These narratives reveal a more complex contribution to the lives of fostered children than is currently attributed to men in the professional literature. Foster fathers are shown to perform traditionally masculine roles by being a supporting carer or disciplinarian, as well as some unexpected and less traditional ones. Through their stories, the men show motivation, emotionality and heroism as they construct versions of masculinity based on caring for children. The…
red dot icon
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…
Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt discovered early in their friendship that they shared a disturbing trait: As children, they navigated dangerous inner-city life without a father's guidance. They escaped deilinquency and crime to form the Pact, dedicated to putting themselves on the road to success. Now, the Three Doctors make a new promise: to set aside their resentment, find their fathers, and rebuild relationships with men they barely recognize. Told in voices alternating between father and son, The Bond explores the hard lessons of growing up without a father, and…
red dot icon
Journal Article
Grandparents or other relatives are raising over 2.7 million children in the United States; and research suggests that the birth parents of these children maintain varying levels of involvement with them and their relative caregivers. However, the impact of parental involvement on children's developmental outcomes remains largely unexplored. This study sought to understand the role of maternal and paternal involvement (each parent's contact with the caregiver, contact with the child, friendliness to the caregiver, and quality of relationship with the child) on competence levels of African…
red dot icon
Journal Article
The high prevalence of mental health problems in foster children is well-documented (e.g., Armsden, Pecora, Payne, & Szatkiewicz, 2000; Tarren-Sweeney, 2008). From an ecological perspective, it can be expected that several factors in different systems (e.g., foster child, foster family, biological parents, and community) influence foster children's behavioral problems. Mainly, the influence of pre-care experiences, such as a history of maltreatment (Oswald, Heil, & Goldbeck, 2010), and in-care experiences, such as the number of out-of-home placements (Newton, Litrownik, &…
red dot icon
Journal Article
Gay men are becoming increasingly involved in reproduction despite significant barriers limiting their access to reproductive technologies or legal parentage in many jurisdictions. Based on in-depth interviews with gay men in the United States and Australia who have become parents through surrogacy, I explore how gay men understand their desire to have children and what frames their parenthood experiences. The notion of choice is widespread in understandings of gay parenthood and family formation. Most of the men in this study did not develop a "procreative consciousness" as a result of…
red dot icon
Journal Article
This article reports on a qualitative study about male involvement in parenthood decision making (i.e., decisions related to becoming a first-time parent) in which the focus was on White, heterosexual men. Little is known about the roles and involvement of these men in decision-making processes. They comprise an invisible norm in research as heteronormative assumptions about parenthood cause them to be overlooked. This oversight-exacerbated by the pervasive problem perspective in social science-forms the research rationale. Conducted within a gender-relational framework, the study included 23…
red dot icon
Journal Article
The aim of this study was to investigate whether stigmatization was associated with psychological adjustment in adolescents from planned lesbian families and, if so, to examine whether individual and interpersonal promotive factors influenced this association. Seventy-eight adolescents (39 girls, 39 boys; mean age = 17.05 years) completed an online questionnaire about psychological health problems and life satisfaction. In addition, information was obtained about androgynous personality traits (an individual factor) of the adolescents. The adolescents were also queried about family…
