Parents Are Forever leads parents gently, in step-by-step fashion, toward becoming successful coparents after divorce. Based on the grief recovery model, this book tells moms and dads exactly what they need to do to help the children they love cope with changes in their lives. Parents are shown how to have business meetings, how to create a parenting plan, and how to keep their childrens' needs as their first priority while they transition to a new kind of family. (Author abstract)
The Department of Health and Human Services Peer Technical Assistance Network sponsored a roundtable discussion to share ideas about programs to strengthen families who are separated by parental incarceration. Government officials, service providers, and practitioners from Tennessee, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma reviewed trends in incarceration and discussed solutions to common challenges. Prisoner re-entry, recidivism, and the impact of incarceration on children and parents specifically were discussed. Attendees noted the need to focus on nurturing stability in dysfunctional…
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the number of parents in prison increased significantly during the 1990s. Parental incarceration and the disruption of family relationships have several negative effects on children, including poverty, poor academic performance, aggression, depression, delinquency, and substance abuse. However, parenting programs can help mothers and fathers in prison to strengthen attachments to their children and protect them from risk behaviors. Effective family dynamics also can reduce recidivism for parents after their release from prison. The Welfare Peer…
We use data from the Fragile Families Study (N = 3317) to document the number of changes in maternal romantic partnerships experienced by children between their birth and age 3, particularly children born to unmarried mothers. We also examine the association between partnership instability and parenting, child health and behavior. We find significantly high levels of partnership instability among children born to unmarried mothers. In addition, partnership instability is negatively associated with parenting, child health, and behavioral problems for children at age 3. Each partnership change…
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Father involvement is critical to a child's long-term growth and development. Increased positive father involvement and engagement will create greater opportunities for fathers to make a significant contribution to their children's healthy growth and development. Fathers vary in expectations about their roles and the goals they have set for parenting and child development activities. These varying expectations need to be considered and responded to as efforts are made to support a range of father involvement opportunities. This tool has been developed, pilot-tested and used by several…
This resource profiles the experiences of efforts in nine states to provide mutual self-help parent support groups to fathers, grandparents raising grandchildren, icarcerated parents, parents raising children with special needs, parents in recovery, and rural parents. The document describes the contextual factors these groups face, and provides information on the different strategies states used to best meet the needs of families. Some strategies worked well in certain states and not as well in others. Geographic, demographic, and cultural variables impact service delivery. A range of…
