Over one-quarter of all children under 21 years of age have one of their parents living outside of their household. When this occurs, it is often the legal obligation of the noncustodial parent to provide financial support to help pay for the costs associated with raising their children. This report provides an overview of these children and their custodial parents, including their socioeconomic characteristics and the types and amount of child support received from noncustodial parents.
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Journal Article Incarceration among young, minority, economically disadvantaged men is pervasive in the United States and can impair their employment prospects. Because many of these men are fathers, incarceration also has serious implications for their ability to support their children. This article investigates the associations between incarceration and nonresident fathers’ cash and in-kind contributions to their children’s household economy. It then examines whether policies intended to protect employment opportunities mitigate the potential costs of incarceration for nonresident fathers’ economic…
This report presents findings from a feasibility evaluation of the Bridges to Pathways (Bridges) program. Bridges was a program for young men in Chicago between the ages of 17 and 21 years who were involved with the criminal or juvenile justice system and lacked a high school credential. The program offered intensive mentoring and case management, as well as the opportunity to earn a high school credential, attend social-emotional learning workshops, and participate in a subsidized internship. The Bridges program was launched in 2013, and the evaluation of this developing program builds…
For incarcerated fathers, prison rather than work mediates access to their families. Prison rules and staff regulate phone privileges, access to writing materials, and visits. Perhaps even more important are the ways in which the penal system shapes men’s gender performances. Incarcerated men must negotiate how they will enact violence and aggression, both in terms of the expectations placed upon inmates by the prison system and in terms of their own responses to these expectations. Additionally, the relationships between incarcerated men and the mothers of their children change,…
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Journal Article Most crimes committed by adolescents in the United States are linked to gang activity, which is disproportionally present in Latina/o communities. Although most gang-involved teenage fathers wish that their children would not join gangs, their parenting tends to foster gang involvement in their children. An improved understanding of fatherhood among gang-involved U.S. Latino youth can inform the development of parenting- and fatherhood-focused interventions. To foster such understanding, we conducted interviews and focus groups with purposive samples of young gang-involved Latino fathers,…
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Journal Article Scholarship suggests that prison visitation is beneficial and may be especially so for children and their incarcerated parents. However, economically disadvantaged families face unique challenges during incarceration, which may include greater difficulties visiting incarcerated family members. This study uses survey data from a nationally representative sample of state prison inmates to explore how economic disadvantage impacts children visiting their parents in prison. Analyses suggest that lower income parents are less likely to be visited by their children. Results are similar for…
Fatherhood Summit Session
Research has shown that fathers returning to their families and communities after incarceration often face multiple challenges, including lack of housing or employment, large child support debt, and complicated family relationships. This discussion will explore a variety of ways in which fatherhood programming can help returning fathers and their families overcome these challenges.
The panel includes a researcher, two practitioners, and a program participant who will highlight strategies for providing reentry services and support for returning fathers. Based on Urban Institute research,…
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On behalf of the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study partnered with Responsible Fatherhood programs and experts in the field to identify high-priority questions and emerging service approaches. Programs use a number of promising models to work with fathers, but rigorous studies have not yet shown which are effective and worth expanding or replicating.
The B3 team is rigorously evaluating three new and emerging service approaches…
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Journal Article The present study aimed to assess the uniqueness of released prisoners’ paternal practice – their involvement in child rearing, as well as their affection toward and acceptance of their children – and its predictors by comparing them to control fathers who have never been arrested or imprisoned. Fifty-five married released prisoner fathers, and 55 control fathers completed the study questionnaires between September 2017 and April 2018. The predictors examined were: fathers’ narcissistic traits; perceived paternal competence; and spousal support. A comparison between the two groups revealed…
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Journal Article Researchers have identified father absence as a contributor to juvenile delinquency. Consequently, politicians and community leaders are making efforts to re-engage fathers. However, it is possible that the presence of fathers is not, in itself, a substantial protective factor and, in some cases, can even be more detrimental than father absence. Employing a diverse sample of male juvenile offenders in the U.S. (ages 13–17), the present study examined the differential effects of absent fathers and harsh fathers on delinquency. Results indicated that youth in the harsh-father group engaged in…
