A non-resident (or non-custodial) father is a parent who does not live in the same household as his child; he may be divorced or separated or may have never married the child's mother, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, Promoting Responsible Fatherhood . While state efforts in the location, identification, and engagement of non-residential fathers in child welfare programs differ, many states are looking at the requirement of locating non-resident fathers in a set timeframe and defining "due diligence" efforts. While many states may have legislation in place around the…
Hart Research Associates conducted a national public opinion poll of 1,615 parents of children age birth to three years for ZERO TO THREE in June, 2009. Based on United States Census data, the sample is representative of parents of children ages birth to three years old, as it pertains to basic demographic characteristics such as race, ethnicity, age, and educational attainment. The survey was designed to explore issues and challenges that parents of young children confront today, where gaps in knowledge of early development exist, identify what sources of information and support these…
As described in earlier articles, children whose parents have higher income and education levels are more likely to grow up in stable two-parent households than their economically disadvantaged counterparts. These widening gaps in fathers' involvement in parenting and in the quality and stability of parents' relationships may reinforce disparities in outcomes for the next generation. This paper reviews evidence about the effectiveness of two strategies to strengthen fathers' involvement and family relationships-- fatherhood programs aimed at disadvantaged noncustodial fathers and relationship…
Intended for court appointed special advocate volunteers and guardians ad litem, this guide offers practice tips for identifying and engaging fathers in cases involving child clients. It begins by describing the benefits of father involvement, including improving children's quality of life and providing children with adult connections. Barriers to father engagement are identified and a framework for involving fathers in children's lives is offered. Strategies discussed include: help to identify and locate the father, encourage the agency to find missing parents, assess whether the father…
Family Expectations (FE) is a program in Oklahoma City designed to strengthen the relationships of low-income couples who are expecting a baby or have just had a baby. For all families, this period is typically full of promise but also vulnerability. FE is one of eight sites that are participating in a large national evaluation of Building Strong Families (BSF), a federally funded program for unmarried parents. The underlying rationale for BSF is that relationship skills education and family support services provided to unmarried parents in a romantic relationship will help them learn how to…
We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the association between multipartnered fertility (MPF) -- when parents have children with more than one partner -- and depression. Random-effects models suggest that MPF is associated with a greater likelihood of depression, net of family structure and other covariates. However, these associations disappear in more conservative fixed-effects models that estimate changes in MPF as a function of changes in depression. Results also suggest that social selection may account for the link between MPF and depression, as…
Nonmarital childbearing has increased dramatically in the U.S. since the early 1960s, rising from 6% of all births in 1960 to fully 40% in 2007 (Hamilton, Martin, & Ventura, 2009). Whereas similar trends have occurred in many developed nations, the U.S. stands out in the extent to which such births are associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and relationship instability. This has given rise to a new term "fragile families," which we define as unmarried couples who have a child together. The increase in fragile families reflects changes not only in the initial context of births but also…
This paper argues that supporting responsible fatherhood and related programs and services is not an attack on single mothers but rather helps low-income mothers with economic stability, child care, work-life balance, the identification of mothers and fathers involved in violent situations, reproductive health, more relationships and family choices, and positive childhood outcomes. It calls for increased federal support for fatherhood responsibility programs that help men help their families and alleviate some of the stress and feelings of hopelessness that low-income men of color experience…
This annual report for 2008-2009 describes the activities and outcomes of the Parents Too Soon (PTS) programs, intensive home visiting programs in Illinois that aim to maximize the abilities of teen parents to care for their children and continue their own development. All PTS programs provide long-term home visiting services (3 to 5 years) to teen parents and their young children using one of three nationally recognized research based models: Healthy Families America, Parents As Teachers, and Nurse Family Partnership model. In addition, 12 of the 22 programs receive supplemental funding to…
Social institutions that have been around for thousands of years generally change slowly, when they change at all. But that's not the way things have been playing out with marriage and family since the middle of the 20th Century. Some scholars argue that in the past five decades, the basic architecture of these age-old institutions has changed as rapidly as at any time in human history. This Pew Research Center report, done in association with TIME, sets out to illuminate these changes by using two complementary research methodologies: a nationwide survey of 2,691 adults we conducted from Oct…
