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Training Materials Current child welfare programs are targeted toward the mother and child and do not place priority on services to support father-child relationships. This curriculum was developed by the National Family Preservation Network to instruct child welfare policymakers and practitioners in the importance of fathers in the lives of their children. The goals of the training program are to promote father-friendly policies that strengthen families and provide additional resources for child placement, when necessary. Administrators will learn to evaluate agency policies and modify those that prevent…
For the roughly 3.3 million low-income fathers in America who are without custody of their children, love for their offspring can be overshadowed by the guilt and anger of not being able to provide them with adequate financial support. Limited education and work experience may make finding a legitimate, living-wage job difficult, and chronic unemployment or participation in underground or illegal activities may become a way of life. A prior criminal record, substance abuse or a strained relationship with the child's mother can further contribute to the economic and emotional distress of both…
The ACF West-Central Hub Family Stabilization Workshop, held September 26 and 27, 2001, in Denver, had three primary themes: Responsible Fatherhood, Faith-based and Community Initiatives, and Marriage and Family Stabilization. This report summarizes the key findings of the workshop. (Author abstract)
The absence of fathers in the home has profound consequences for children. Almost 75 percent of American children living in single-parent families will experience poverty before they turn 11-years old, compared to only 20 percent of children in two-parent families (National Commission on Children,1993). Indeed, virtually all of the increase in child poverty between 1970 and 1996 was due to the growth of single parent families (Sawhill, 1999). Children who grow up absent their fathers are also more likely to fail at school or to drop out, experience behavioral or emotional problems requiring…
This paper uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the frequency of parent-child interaction in several areas across a range of family types. Overall, we find that few individual characteristics of mothers or fathers are consistently associated with how often parents engage in activities with their one-year-old children. The nature of parents' relationship, however, does appear to be important for parenting. Non-resident fathers exhibit significantly lower levels of interaction with their children in activities such as care giving, playing and cognitive…
The involvement of fathers in their children's' activities is recognized as a critical factor in early child development and the emotional well being of older children. This article examines research data on the importance of fathers' participation in the lives of their children, personal characteristics of involved and disengaged fathers, and activities that fathers more typically share with their children. The author notes that while activities such as helping with homework or engaging in religious activities might not seem special to many fathers, they are special to children and to their…
The Parents' Fair Share demonstration program was implemented in seven sites to test an approach for helping noncustodial fathers meet their child support responsibilities. Employment and training services, support groups, mediation services, and modified child support enforcement activities were intended to improve job stability and child support payments, as well as father-child relationships. The evaluation of the project compared outcomes for fathers who participated in the Parents' Fair Share program with fathers who were randomly assigned to a control group from 1994 to 1996. Overall…
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…
