Low-income families in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio were interviewed twice during a 16-month period about children's living arrangements. At the time of the first interview, 57 percent of children were living with their mother, who was neither married nor cohabitating. Twenty percent of children lived with two married, biological parents; five percent lived with two cohabitating biological parents; five percent lived with a mother who was married to a nonbiological father; nine percent lived with neither parent; and two percent lived with a mother who was cohabitating with a man who was…
The increase in the number of children being born to unmarried parents present a number of social policy issues for strengthening the involvement of unwed fathers with their children. This working paper examines trends in out-of-wedlock childbearing, the influence of fathers in child development, and how social policies such as welfare, child support, and fathering programs affect unwed fathers and their family involvement. The authors discuss a number of studies that have found paternal involvement to be associated with better emotional, behavioral, and developmental outcomes in children, as…
Unpublished Paper
The success of welfare reform will depend on the existing capabilities of low-income parents, the stability of the parents' relationship and desire for father involvement, and the effects of local policies on parental relationships and child well being. These factors can be assessed with information from the current Fragile Families and Child Well-being study on unwed parents, which is following 3,675 children born to unmarried parents and 1,125 children born to married parents in 21 cities with different welfare policies and systems. The results of the study will demonstrate whether strict…
Unpublished Paper
Strict criminal justice policies, such as long-term sentences, are interfering in the achievement of welfare reform goals to promote marriage and parental involvement. This report analyzes data from the Fragile Families Study to examine the impact of criminal justice policies on the likelihood that unwed parents will form a family together. A total of 3,600 unwed couples and 1,100 married couples are being interviewed at the time of their child's birth and five one-year intervals. Study participants are being recruited from 20 cities with different welfare regimes and labor markets.…
The Bush administration has proposed several initiatives to improve child well-being by increasing marriage and father involvement. Research supports the intent of the proposal to create a stable environment for children. This report expands on previous studies to examine differences in family structures by race and age. Data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families are presented for six categories of family relationships: child's birth parents are married; child's parents are divorced, but the father visits regularly; the child's biological parents have never married, but are…
The Department of Health and Human Services Peer Technical Assistance Network sponsored a roundtable discussion to share ideas about programs to strengthen families who are separated by parental incarceration. Government officials, service providers, and practitioners from Tennessee, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma reviewed trends in incarceration and discussed solutions to common challenges. Prisoner re-entry, recidivism, and the impact of incarceration on children and parents specifically were discussed. Attendees noted the need to focus on nurturing stability in dysfunctional…
The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network held a roundtable in November 2003 to discuss best practices for strengthening families separated by parental incarceration. Participants reviewed national trends and examined the components of state initiatives designed to reduce recidivism and alleviate the negative impact of parental incarceration on children. Emphasis was placed on improving parenting skills and nurturing parent-child relationships. This final report summarizes the challenges identified by programs, such as the lack of family stability, limited parenting skills, child support…
This report discusses the outcomes of an evaluation of Healthy Families Arizona, a home visitation program designed to provide supportive services and education to parents of newborns who might benefit from support to strengthen their families. The program is intended to promote positive parent/child interaction and child health, and prevent child abuse and neglect. All services are voluntary and assistance is typically provided for 12 to 18 months but may be provided for up to five years. This report focuses on aggregate data that are summarized across the 23 sites that make up the Healthy…
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Journal Article This study sought to describe fathers' participation in a statewide home-visiting program to prevent child abuse and to assess program impact on their parenting. This randomized trial followed 643 at-risk families for 3 years. Data were collected through program record review, staff surveys, and annual maternal interviews. Participation in visits varied by the parents' relationship and paternal employment, violence, and heavy drinking at baseline. Overall, the program had no apparent impact on fathers' accessibility to the child, engagement in parenting activities, and sharing of…
Plans to ensure the safety of children in homes affected by domestic violence must include interventions with batterers to alleviate the threat to all family members. This guide produced by the Massachusetts Department of Social Services Domestic Violence Unit describes strategies for interviewing and working with abusers. Emphasis is placed on holding offenders accountable for their behavior and providing motivations for change. A system for assessing dangerousness and risk for the social worker and nonabusive parent is discussed. Chapters review the influence of race, class, culture, and…
