This workbook was provided to participants in an Early Head Start/Child Welfare orientation training program held in June 2003, in Washington D.C. The first part of workbook includes information about the child welfare system, including the Children’s Bureau and child welfare services. The second part of the workbook includes child welfare resources, including a listing of federal funding resources for technical assistance, prevention activities, and online resources. The following sections review the major components of the Head Start program and the Early Head Start program. And provide…
This working paper explores the role of fathers and father-child relationships in the psychosocial development of adolescents by examining outcomes data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) files on children and mothers. The survey uses a number of measures to evaluate child development and well being; other characteristics of children and mothers; information about family structure and household makeup; family income, home environment, and other sociodemographic factors; as well as children's perceptions of their mother, father, and or/step father. The initial survey was…
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Journal Article Fathers and mothers (n = 120) of preschool-aged children completed 2 measures assessing fathers' behavioral involvement in child care (i.e., the amount of time that the father was the child's primary caregiver and the number of child-care tasks performed). The results reaffirm the findings from previous studies that father's long work hours can be a barrier to greater participation in child care but that mothers' extended work hours serve to increase father participation in child care. Women's perception of their husbands' competence as parents and marital satisfaction also explain fathers'…
Brief
This study shows that making the effort to involve fathers and father figures in Head Start pays off- more fathers get involved with their sons. However, while father involvement programs do have an effect, the treatment resulted in relatively low levels of involvement. Therefore, practitioners must recognize that vigorous outreach is needed. (Author abstract).
The changing ideals of fatherhood have important implications for the types of activities that comprise father involvement, the empirical measurement of father involvement, and the instruments with which we measure involvement. Our first goal in this paper is to discuss briefly different tools and approaches to measuring father involvement, generally. Second, we talk about the specific measurement tools and methods used in the Father Studies of the Early Head Start (EHS) Evaluation Project. Third, we highlight lessons from the field that have emerged as father involvement is measured in the…
Other
In this national sample of Head Start families, fathers appear to play an important, positive role in the lives of their children. A father's presence in the home or level of involvement is related to the frequency or types of activities the child engages in with family members, the social behavior of the child, and the level of exposure to violence both the child and the primary caregiver experience. The evidence does suggest that the more involvement fathers have with their children, the more likely the children are to display positive social behaviors and the less likely the children…
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Journal Article A qualitative inquiry in four Early Head Start Research sites explored the question of how low-income mothers and fathers view the role of fathers in their families. Role perceptions were gathered from a total of 56 parents of infants and toddlers across the four sites, using multiple data collection methods that included focus groups, open-ended interviews, and one case study. The data were analyzed to identify common themes across sites. The participants identified roles that included: providing financial support, "being there," care giving, outings and play, teaching and discipline,…
