The changing ideals of fatherhood have important implications for the types of activities that comprise father involvement, the empirical measurement of father involvement, and the instruments with which we measure involvement. Our first goal in this paper is to discuss briefly different tools and approaches to measuring father involvement, generally. Second, we talk about the specific measurement tools and methods used in the Father Studies of the Early Head Start (EHS) Evaluation Project. Third, we highlight lessons from the field that have emerged as father involvement is measured in the…
Brief
This brief is based on Mathematica's evaluation of the Early Head Start Fatherhood Demonstration. In February 2001, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families and the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services partnered to fund 21 Early Head Start fatherhood demonstration projects. Grantees were selected through a competitive process and funded for three years to create and implement innovative practices to increase the involvement of fathers in Early Head Start and in the lives of their children. Grantees were expected to establish…
Since its beginnings nearly 40 years ago, Head Start has understood that loving, intentional parental involvement is an essential factor in healthy child development. Head Start works with parents because it believes that a healthy family is a child's best and most powerful resource. Strong families help to ensure positive outcomes for children and that they enter school ready to learn and succeed in their years there. However, getting children prepared for life-long learning is typically viewed as mother's work. Dads are too often seen as optional in this part of their children's lives.…
Other
In this national sample of Head Start families, fathers appear to play an important, positive role in the lives of their children. A father's presence in the home or level of involvement is related to the frequency or types of activities the child engages in with family members, the social behavior of the child, and the level of exposure to violence both the child and the primary caregiver experience. The evidence does suggest that the more involvement fathers have with their children, the more likely the children are to display positive social behaviors and the less likely the children…
Father involvement has a unique impact on children's outcomes, including cognitive development, achievement, math and reading scores, as well as behavior. Father involvement coordinators, parent involvement specialists, and other staff members who work with families can find this handbook useful as it provides insight into why fathers are important in their children's lives. Many studies conclude that children with highly involved fathers, in relation to children with less involved fathers, tend to be more cognitively and socially competent. (Author abstract).
Head Start staff members are well-trained and accustomed to building trusting relationships with families and their children. However, working with fathers may be less familiar. As observed in earlier Building Blocks, staff may need to change some of their notions and attitudes about fathers that stem from lack of or negative interactions with fathers in the past. Staff need to realize the deep extent to which fathers can make unique, positive contributions to their child's development because of the various ways fathers differ from mothers. All staff members should be aware, celebrate, and…
The Sure Start Plus pilot program was implemented in England to target support services to teen parents. The initiative was intended to reduce social isolation and improve parenting skills, health care, housing opportunities, and child care. Through a variety of models, Sure Start Plus offered individual advisors, advocacy, group therapy, and parenting classes. This executive summary presents an overview of the program and highlights the findings of an evaluation. The review indicated that crisis services, parenting activities, and health assistance were successful in helping the young women…
Other
This 69-minute DVD presents strategies for effectively communicating with young children and preventing tantrums. Information is provided on: the developmental characteristics of toddlers, steps for speaking toddler-ese, strategies for addressing behavior problems, techniques for preventing tantrums, and the success stories of families using the techniques. Questions about the strategies are answered at the end of the presentation.
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Journal Article In this article, we use data on biological fathers (n = 597) and mothers (N = 1,550) from 12 sites of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHS study) to examine the type and frequency of father involvement. We use a three-part model of father involvement to examine whether fathers participating in the EHS study are accessible to, engaged with, and show responsibility for their two-year-old children. We also examine patterns of reported father involvement by relationship status and residency. We find that more than 80% of all two-year-old children in the EHS study have…
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Journal Article This report examines the perspectives of fathers of low-income children about their needs and resources for support to help them with their parenting responsibilities. The data are taken from open-ended, qualitative interviews of 575 men as part of a comprehensive study of fathers related to the Early Head Start Longitudinal Study. The interviews, taken when the father or father figure's child was 24 months of age, asked fathers about the barriers they experienced to fathering, about the sources of support or help they had available, and about supports they thought might be useful. The…
