This booklet features articles written by parents with experience navigating the child welfare system. Topics addressed include peer support, visiting, legal representation, relationships with foster parents, parenting classes, fathers’ rights, addiction and recovery, domestic violence, and reunification. (Author abstract modified)
Recognizing that domestic and sexual violence directed against women is a serious social problem that continues to plague America, the National Football League Players Association has joined with A CALL TO MEN, the leading national men's organization dedicated to addressing this problem, to produce Dedicated to Daughters, a book celebrating the unique and indestructible bond between fathers and daughters. In it NFL players and coaches, through inspiring personal accounts, talk about what it means to be a father, and the importance of being a role model for their daughters.These courageous men…
This chapter looks at the extent and impact of fathers' violence on children and children's own perspectives on their violent fathers. Key findings from the research on the varying ways children are harmed through this violence are summarized, as well as research on children's views of living with paternal domestic violence and their feelings towards their fathers. (Author abstract modified)
This chapter looks at the way fatherhood has been constructed through social policy and law and how this relates to discourses of domestic violence. It discusses the influence of fathers' rights movements on policy formation and the contradictions created for practitioners in trying to negotiate between two different policy discourses: that of safeguarding children and involving violent and abusive fathers in children's lives. (Author abstract modified)
A study of 20 domestically violent fathers in the United Kingdom explored the approaches of perpetrator programs in addressing children's safety in their interventions with the fathers and perspectives of the fathers on changes in their parenting practices. Findings indicate a lack of focus on children's fears and feelings in the programs.
Designed to assist advocates for nonresident fathers in child welfare cases, this checklist provides tips for addressing special advocacy issues. Strategies for advocates are explained for addressing substance abuse, mental health concerns, domestic violence allegations, and immigration concerns.
This chapter discusses the need for interventions that bring fathers and paternal family members to the table in child protection efforts, and shares a case study from Vermont that illustrates how restorative justice can be used in family group meetings to challenge totalizing characterizations of fathers and men and help social workers partner with families and collaboration with their professional colleagues to create balanced assessment’s and manage risks. 64 references.
Battered women's advocates often oppose members of the fatherhood movement when attempting to influence public policy regarding contact between abusive men and their children. The fatherhood movement consists of several different factions that have varying perspectives of domestic violence and methods for preserving family relationships. The segments include father involvement advocates, responsible fatherhood groups, and fathers' rights groups. Father involvement supporters condemn violence, but attribute violent behaviors to a sense of powerlessness. Responsible fatherhood groups promote…
A study examined and compared the attitudes and behaviors of fathers who have and have not abused their partners. Data were drawn from waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households and from the 1990 Census. In the first wave, 264 of 2,930 fathers were violent; in the second wave, 251 of 3,171 fathers were violent. Findings indicate that when ordinary activities of family life were examined, violent and nonviolent fathers did not differ with respect to the amount of time they spent with their children and there was little evidence that spouse/partner abuse increased the…
This chapter examines the conflict between domestic violence advocates and father involvement programs, responsible fatherhood groups, and fathers' rights groups that promote father-child relationships in a variety of ways. Father involvement programs emphasize employment training, child support, and preparation for parenthood as strategies for increasing the emotional connection between fathers and children, while responsible fatherhood groups focus on father-child relationships as a strategy for alleviating social problems caused by weak family structures. Fathers' rights groups promote…
