State and local policymakers are advised to follow a six-step strategy for developing initiatives to promote father-child relationships: teach men to be good parents; help fathers improve relationships with the mothers of their children; facilitate employment for low-income fathers; allocate federal funds to programs for fathers; enhance the child support system; and increase public awareness about the value of fathers. This guide describes the considerations for each step and recommends action strategies for government officials. Suggestions include: integrate fatherhood modules into sex…
This Australian pilot program seeks to promote cooperative post-separation parenting, through education and communications training, to reduce reliance on family courts in resolving conflicts involving the terms of court orders. Most parents using the courts for such conflicts are non-residents and while such cases represented a small number of the overall caseload, they take up a disproportionate amount of court time and resources. The Anglicare program uses the term cooperative parenting rather than co-parenting or joint parenting to describe positive post-separation parenting by both…
Research indicates certain qualities of the parental relationship can serve as a benchmark for the degree of involvement of unwed fathers and their children. This paper explores characteristics of parental relationships and unwed paternal involvement, as well as other causal factors that can affect the role of unwed fathers in their children's lives. The authors examined data in the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, a large longitudinal study of parental relationships, involvement, and child well-being and development. A total of 3,600 children born to unmarried parents in 20 large…