Successful reentry is one of the greatest challenges facing America today and, especially the future of our children. The greatest predictor of whether a child will wind up in prison is whether his parent(s)— namely, the father—was in prison. Despite the many daunting challenges that fathers face upon their release, connecting them with their children and family is perhaps the most strategic one to address because it breaks the generational nature of crime and incarceration.
New York state implemented a pilot employment program from 2006 to 2009 for parents behind in their child support. These pilot programs, part of the Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative, provided employment-oriented services, fatherhood/parenting workshops, case management, and other support services to nearly 4,000 parents behind in their child support in four New York communities. Our evaluation shows that these programs successfully helped participants find work, increase their earnings, and pay more child support. These gains continued for at least a year after…
Stable employment and job opportunities are important to the well-being of families. In this recession, unemployment rates are the highest they have been in two generations. Many families are struggling with economic stability. Marriage and relationship education (MRE) providers should: 1) be prepared to help clients navigate the workforce system as un/underemployment can place stress on the couple relationship and 2) work with the local workforce board as a partner in strengthening the community. This Tip Sheet provides an overview of employment services, briefly discusses the connection…
This brief on a comprehensive approach to encouraging engaged fatherhood begins by discussing the importance of fathers and reviewing the different types of father-focused programs: employment-focused, nurturing programs, and healthy marriage programs. The Seedco Fatherhood Initiative Pilot Program is then described. Launched in 2006, as part of a statewide pilot funded through the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance's Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative, the program draws on earlier fatherhood programs and principles of behavioral economics to…
Part of a series of fact sheets that discuss how and why the child support program provides innovative services to families across six interrelated areas to assure that parents have the tools and resources they need to support their children and be positively involved in raising them, this fact sheet discusses the dependence of reliable child support payments upon noncustodial parents having stable income. The child support program can increase regular child support payments by helping noncustodial parents find and keep work, and connecting custodial and noncustodial parents to resources that…
