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To investigate the family support needs of Iowa citizens, the Iowa Fatherhood, Marriage and Family Supports Advisory Group conducted 25 focus groups involving over 250 adults. This resulting report discusses themes that were prevalent during these focus groups and presents the following recommendations for family support services: (1) lift up the importance of the family; (2) act before a family faces crises and is harmed; (3) improve the relationship skills of all Iowans; (4) bolster families through economic stability and employer support; (5) surround families with a comprehensive array of…
This chapter shows how conceptualization of father involvement can affect the design of intervention programs for adjudicated youth. A study involving 78 fathers of at-risk adolescents found fathers who reported using a greater number of past services for their adolescents were more likely to participate in family-based programs, as were fathers who reported poorer family problem-solving abilities, and fathers of adolescents with more severe behavior problems. A follow-up quantitative study of 20 fathers of at-risk adolescents found views on traditional family roles and feelings of inadequacy…
Years before becoming the 44th President-elect of the United States, Barack Obama published this lyrical, unsentimental, and powerfully affecting memoir, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller when it was reissued in 2004. Dreams from My Father tells the story of Obama's struggle to understand the forces that shaped him as the son of a black African father and white American mother--a struggle that takes him from the American heartland to the ancestral home of his great-aunt in the tiny African village of Alego.
Obama opens his story in New York, where he hears that his father--…
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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…
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This video follows a diverse group of expectant and new dads as they play a vital role in pregnancy, labor, and the birth of their children. The DVD is divided into five easy-to-view sections: 1. Dads are unique - why are dads essential? 2. The Pregnant Father - going to prenatal exams, healthy habits, finances, and taking time off. 3. Labor and Birth - being there, attending to mom's needs, asking questions, being with baby. 4. Emotions - postpartum blues for mom and dad, intimacy. 5. Baby care - benefits of breastfeeding, bonding, signs of illness, SIDS, Shaken Baby Syndrome, coping with…
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This video will inspire young dads to nurture their child's development as they deal with the life-changing realities of being a father. The DVD is divided into six easy-to-view sections: 1. Connect - child development, health and safety.2. Positive Discipline - setting limits and coping with frustration. 3. Take Care of Yourself - having personal goals, dealing with your own father. 4. Relating - resolving relationship conflict, "I" messages. 5. Work and Family - flexible hours, sharing work with your child, finding work. 6. Single Fatherhood - shared parenting, fathering from a distance…
Tim Russert's Big Russ & Me-- a huge national bestseller-- casts a fond look back to the 1950s Buffalo neighborhood of Russert's youth and recalls the extraordinary example of his father-- a WWII veteran who worked two jobs without complaint for thirty years and taught his children to appreciate the values of self-discipline, of respect, of loyalty to friends. Russert gives us reason to laugh, cry, and identify with the lessons of life taught by the indomitable Big Russ. (Author abstract)
To encourage and guide men in becoming the dads they want to be, Michael Farris addresses issues common in all families with daughters: friends, dating, personal appearance, and preparing for the roles she'll have as a woman. Michael Farris challenges fathers to take their unique opportunity to train daughters for life's challenges--in ways that only a dad can. Originally published as How a Man Prepares His Daughters for Life, it now includes new material on relating to an adult daughter. (Author abstract)
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)
