Brief
Programs designed specifically to support fathers in their role as parents are relatively new to the policy landscape. Originally emerging as an outgrowth of welfare reform and stronger child support enforcement in the 1990s, fatherhood programs ahve since evolved from a narrow focus on financial stability and support to a more balanced agenda that emphasizes healthy relationships, parenting skills, and father involvement. Accompanying these changes has been a growing interest among researchers in studying the role that fathers play in the lives of their children. In this brief, we…
Fatherhood Summit Session
Research has shown that fathers returning to their families and communities after incarceration often face multiple challenges, including lack of housing or employment, large child support debt, and complicated family relationships. This discussion will explore a variety of ways in which fatherhood programming can help returning fathers and their families overcome these challenges.
The panel includes a researcher, two practitioners, and a program participant who will highlight strategies for providing reentry services and support for returning fathers. Based on Urban Institute research,…
Brief
Low-skilled men, especially minorities, typically work at low levels and provide little support for their children. Conservatives blame this on government willingness to support families, which frees the fathers from responsibility, while liberals say that men are denied work by racial bias or the economy--either a lack of jobs or low wages, which depress the incentive to work. The evidence for all these theories is weak. Thus, changing program benefits or incentives is unlikely to solve the men's work problem. More promising is the idea of linking assistance with administrative requirements…
Brief
To better understand the challenges federal grantees face in sustaining their programs, and to learn from the successful efforts of former grantees, the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) launched a sustainability study. OAH’s sustainability study examines whether—and in what form—programs first funded in 2010 to support expectant and parenting youth and families have continued operating beyond the federal grant, and the types of strategies and resources they found useful in attempting to sustain their programs. This brief presents the first set of findings from the sustainability study. It…
Brief
This brief provides a summary of research findings on the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program, a parent involvement, school readiness program that helps low literacy parents prepare their three- to five-year-old children for success in school and life. HIPPY programs provide a 30-week direct instruction program to at-risk parents focusing on language development, problem solving, perceptual discrimination, and other pre-academic skills. It is free to parents and delivered by home visitors who live in the same high need neighborhoods as the families they serve…
Brief
This issue brief explains that the economic health and social well-being of the United States are significantly enhanced when parents have the tools they need to help their children start school prepared to learn, develop thesocial skills necessary to pay attention and work in teams, and grow up to be productive adults. It explores the physical development of the infant brain and the impact of stimulus, and the benefits of parent education programs. Findings from studies on the effectiveness of parenting programs are shared, and 10 parenting programs that are strong enough to have a possible…
Fathers' responses to parenthood and to their infants, the processes by which infants become attached, and differences in the nature and impact of mother- and father-child relationships are explored. Factors that influence father-child interactions and relationships are discussed, as well as characteristics of father-child relationships and changes in the relationship from childhood to adolescence. Numerous references.
How to Help Young Dads Become Loving and Responsible Parents.If you work with young people and/or their children, ROAD to Fatherhood will help you develop comprehensive services for young fathers. Learn of the many needs of young fathers through their real stories together with strategies for helping them meet their individual and unique challenges. PLUS how to:* Plan before you start your program* Choose qualified and empathetic staff* Recruit young fathers* Evaluate curriculum* Promote your services* Celebrate each father's love for his childAre you already teaching teen moms? ROAD to…
Brief
Getting a good education and doing well in school are widely regarded as critical preparation for most types of success in life. However, academic achievement depends on more than what takes place within school walls. Research generally indicates that characteristics outside the formal educational setting--or non-school factors--also have a lot to do with whether children and adolescents are successful in school. Therefore, it seems important to examine not only how schools can be improved but also how non-school factors can be enhanced to foster learning and educational attainment. This…
Brief
When families make the news, it is often for negative reasons such as violence or abuse. Negative perceptions of low-income families tend to be especially strong. However, families are critical to the positive development of children and youth, as well as to problems that may affect that development. Thus, it is important to examine not just the deficits, but also the assets and strengths that families of all income levels bring to raising children.This Research Brief reports on the results of new Child Trends analyses of data from the 2005 Every Child Every Promise Study conducted by America…
