This report presents a review and analysis of Region V's Fatherhood Special Initiative (FSI) and Early Head Start Fatherhood Demonstration grants. The grant awards were designed to promote father involvement and children's early literacy and language development (In this document, the terms "father involvement" and "male involvement" are used interchangeably). The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) spoke with Head Start and Early Head Start staff members over a four-month period to identify unique and innovative practices utilized by these grantees. (Author abstract)
Third in a series of guides on encouraging father involvement in Head Start programs for young children, this guide discusses assessing program effectiveness in involving fathers and identifying what changes might need to be made to ensure that the program is as father-friendly as possible. It begins by explaining six stages of becoming a father-friendly program: understanding and appreciating fathers' vital contributions to healthy child development, creating an environment where fathers feel welcomed and valued, deciding what to do, recruiting fathers, operating the program, and sustaining…
This report summarizes findings from a study that examined the characteristics, challenges, and needs of young fathers in Canada. The study conducted a number of one-to-one interviews and focus groups with young fathers accessing its services as well as services at other agencies. This data was also compared to existing statistics collected as part of Terra Association's Young Dad's Outreach Services. Secondly, a literature review was conducted to research and highlight a number of research areas related to fathering, men's issues, and young fathers in particular. The findings of this two-…
The thesis of this study is that children and adolescents who grow up in intact families are generally less likely to commit acts of delinquency than children and adolescents who grow up in non-intact families, which, for the purposes of this paper, are defined as single-parent families, blended or stepfamilies, and no-parent families. Using both a bivariate regression model and several multiple regression models, the paper sets out to test the hypothesis that family structure has a significant impact on the level of risk of adolescent delinquency even when controlling for other factors…
Promoting health and recognizing illness in young children are not intuitive skills and many fathers lack the knowledge, skills, and confidence to safely care for the health and well-being of their children. The National Fatherhood Initiative's (NFI) Doctor Dad workshop was created in 2002 specifically to address this concern.This report is a summary of a formative-evaluation study on the Doctor Dad workshop and curriculum conducted by the Center for Social Work Research at the University of Texas at Austin. The formative evaluation was part of a pilot test to assess the effectiveness and…
The thesis of this study is that children and adolescents who grow up in intact families are generally less likely to smoke, to drink, or to try illegal drugs than children and adolescents who grow up in non-intact families, which, for the purposes of this paper, are defined as single-parent families, blended or stepfamilies, and no-parent families. Using both a bivariate regression model and several multiple regression models, the paper sets out to test the hypothesis that family structure has a significant impact on the level of risk of adolescent drug use even when controlling for other…
This brief is based on extensive in-person observational data, as well as survey data, from 55 unmarried low-income African-American mothers and fathers who were part of the Fragile Families study. Given that 70 percent of African-American children (compared with one-third of all children) in the U.S. are born to parents who are not married, this is a particularly important group to study. The present study is one of the first to collect in-depth observational and parent-reported data from unmarried mothers and fathers regarding their couple relationship and the fathers' involvement with…
This guide includes five sections to help you think about how to work effectively on policies that can improve outcomes for fathers and fragile families: (1) A checklist of state and local policies that can help fathers become more engaged with and responsible for their children. Some involve state level action; others fall within the purview of local government. (2) Stories of community foundations that have successfully influenced public policy at all levels. While six of the stories relate to fatherhood policy, they all illustrate effective strategies for influencing policymakers. (3) A…
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.…
The Texas Fragile Families Initiative (TFF) is the only statewide, collaborative demonstration project aimed at increasing the capacity of local organizations to serve "fragile families," defined by the Ford foundation as young, low-income never-married parents and their children. Started in 1999 as a partnership between the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and the Center for Public Policy Priorities, TFF brought together more than 30 local, state, and national funders to test promising practices in responsible fatherhood in eleven Texas communities.
