Brief
A father can acknowledge paternity by signing a written admission or voluntary acknowledgment of paternity. All states have programs that give unmarried parents the opportunity to acknowledge the father’s paternity of the newborn at the hospital. States must also help parents acknowledge paternity up until the child’s eighteenth birthday through vital records offices or other offices designated by the state. This resource walks through questions and answers that help guide fathers and father figures as they work to establish paternity.
Over the years, the Center for Family Policy and Practice has consistently reached out to and worked with domestic violence advocates and listened to low-income women of color who are victims and survivors. Their knowledge and experience have helped guide and inform our work since the agency was founded in 1995.
Our work focuses on low-income communities and individuals who experience poverty as a chronic condition in their lives. This paper addresses the complex needs that domestic violence victims who live in impoverished communities often face, not the economic deprivation that…
This report documents key socio-economic impacts families of incarcerated persons. This resource also follows research on the socio-economic status of those who are incarcerated. The goal of the report is to continue to contribute to growing research and resources that benefit those experiencing incarceration and their families as well as organizations that work with them.
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Journal Article Father involvement in families of urban American Indians has been a neglected area of research. In this study, the authors examined the associations among parental relationship quality, father involvement, and coresidence. The authors conducted a multiple group analysis through structural equation modeling comparing 107 American Indian fathers with fathers of the general population in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Although the results were similar between groups, findings indicated two key differences for urban American Indians. First, emotional supportiveness had a stronger…
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Journal Article In response to decreasing marriage rates among childbearing couples, public policy has sought to reinforce the notion that marriage and fatherhood are a package deal. However, what remains unclear is whether the ideology and values of the policymakers promoting marriage and fatherhood as a package deal represent the values of the men targeted by the policy initiatives. In an attempt to respond to this question, this preliminary study presents the findings from a qualitative analysis of 33 African American adult males’ attitudes toward marriage and romantic relationships. The findings revealed…
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Journal Article How paternal influences interact with community factors to determine adolescent mental health is currently not well understood. In the current study we present a unique analysis of how paternal work stress, mental health, ethnicity, work history, and migration patterns between rural and urban communities (or vice versa) are associated with mental health outcomes among 2,342 adolescents. Path analyses revealed that fathers' relocation was associated with less paternal work stress, and fewer mental health problems both in adolescents and their fathers. These findings contribute to our…
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Intended for social workers in North Carolina, this resource sheet explains the important contributions fathers can make to children's well-being and the benefits of healthy father involvement in promoting child development. North Carolina resources for engaging non-resident fathers are listed, and suggestions are made for conducting interviews with fathers. The need to establish a basis for a positive, strengths-based relationship, free from judgments or assumptions at the first contact with a non-residential father is emphasized. 5 references.
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This report displays and discusses some of the data related to the poverty of children and their living arrangements and data on male employment and earnings, educational attainment, and incarceration. It then provides information on federal programs that could play a greater role in addressing poverty of children through the fathers of these children (nearly all noncustodial parents are fathers). These programs provide economic assistance, family support, and job training and employment to eligible participants. The report also examines federal programs that have the purposes of preventing…
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Journal Article Witnessing violence harms children, and children often enter foster care because of violence at home. But facing and ending violence can be complicated. In this issue, parents explore partner violence -- the controlling patterns of batterers, the fights that flare up under stress, and the aggression driven by mental illness or substance abuse -- and describe the steps they took to get violence out of their lives. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article This paper seeks to add to the literature on working with fathers by focusing on early intervention. It draws on research into fathers involved in a home visitation service delivered by the Family Nurse Partnership in England and evaluates the men's experiences of the intervention. The vulnerability of fathers was striking and many were helped to develop their practical skills and confidence in caring for their babies. The intervention was effective because of the quality time that was invested in developing relationships with fathers (as well as mothers), the focus on their strengths as well…
