This 1945 report details reforms that should be implemented by the Court of Special Sessions in New York City to improve the enforcement of paternity orders. The author, a judge in the court, describes the lack of efficiency and fairness of court proceedings and proposes an individualized approach to cases involving illegitimacy. Emphasis is placed on practices that will enhance the well-being of the child and the family. Recommendations include the elimination of short prison terms for fathers who do not pay child support; the centralization of paternity cases among the five counties in New…
A survey of the fifty States and the District of Columbia on fatherhood initiatives identified 31 commissions, initiatives, and programs, 3 of which were inactive. This report provides a State-by-State profile of the different initiatives. The profiles include information on the development of the program, the mission, duties and responsibilities, meetings and reporting requirements, agency contact, and activities to date. Findings from the survey indicate several States reported that administration and implementation of all, or at least part, of their fatherhood activities were contracted to…
The People Achieving Responsibility through Education, Nurturing, and Training (PARENT) program was implemented in Larimer County, Colorado to equip non-custodial parents to support their children emotionally and financially. Services include parenting skills education, employment assistance, case management, and referral. A grant from the federal Office of Support Enforcement was used to pay the child support obligations of compliant participants on a temporary basis. This report presents the findings of an evaluation of the PARENT program which considered attendance and characteristics…
This final report on a demonstration project in Maine designed to serve young fathers of children born to teenage mothers describes the project and its outcomes. The project background and its goals and objectives are reviewed. Project design development and site selection are described, with an emphasis on convening a statewide planning group, defining a target population and essential project components and service priorities, and developing a system for site review and process evaluation. Implementation of the demonstration model is outlined, focusing on conducting staff training, defining…
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Journal Article Paternity and child support can be essential to the family stability of children of unmarried teen mothers. While the number of births to teen mothers decreased between 1970 and 1985 from 656,000 to 477,700, the number of unmarried teen mothers increased from 199,900 to 280,300. This paper presents guidelines for counselors to assist young mothers. Establishing paternity is essential for the emotional health of the child, providing a sense of belonging and family ties with the father's family. Child support is important, even at a minimum if the father is unemployed, to establish a pattern…
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Journal Article The Family Support Act of 1988 and the 1996 welfare reform act recognized the need to help low-income fathers stay involved with their families, financially as well as emotionally. The laws required states to offer AFDC assistance to two parent families in which the primary wage earner was not employed. They also encouraged states to establish education, employment, and training assistance to noncustodial fathers of low income children so that they could obtain the level of employment needed to fulfill child support obligations. Reform policies have also tried to amend state practices…
This program evaluation assessed the effectiveness of the Young Men as Fathers (YMAF) program administered by the California Youth Authority. The program offers parenting education to 15 to 20 wards of the state living in four institutions to help them become more involved in their families, prevent child abuse and neglect, and provide greater emotional and financial support to their children. Data for the evaluation was collected for 822 program participants from July 1993 through December 1995 and for a comparison group of 847 wards in two non-participating institutions. While the…
This issue brief examines the provisions of the Personal Work Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996 and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that apply to fatherhood. The briefing focuses on the initiatives and programs that can be used by states to encourage fathers to be more involved in the lives of their children. The Personal Work Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act (PRA) included goals for increasing child support enforcement, overcoming barriers to employment, decreasing out-of-wedlock births, and developing visitation programs for…
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Journal Article This State Legislative Report examines the special problems associated with establishing paternity and collecting child support from teenage parents. The report reviews public policy options for legislators and is divided into three major sections: establishing paternity, child support enforcement, and state legislative policy and program responses. Paternity establishment and child support enforcement are particularly difficult with the teenage population. Establishing paternity can be a problem because teenage mothers often refuse to cooperate with state child support enforcement personnel…
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Journal Article The new welfare reform law includes a number of provisions designed to increase the amount of child support paid by nonresident fathers, but little is known about whether stronger child support enforcement may create parental conflict. Parental conflict may increase when fathers do not wish to pay or when fathers pay and demand more time with their child, but mothers resist these demands. Using seven-city data from the study of Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing, the authors find that very few parents are opposed to the idea that fathers should have child support obligations and rights to…
