This report is the latest in a series based on the 1997 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities. Results of the survey show that in 1999 state and federal prisons held an estimated 721,500 parents of minor children. A majority of state (55 percent) and federal (63 percent) prisoners reported having a child under the age of 18. Forty-six percent of the parents reported living with their children prior to incarceration. The survey estimates that 336,300 U.S. households with minor children are affected by the imprisonment of a resident parent. The parents reported having…
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Journal Article Many fathers are prohibited from seeking custody changes because of the legal costs involved. Parents with joint legal custody often have difficulties arranging visitation with their children. Some parents are difficult and frequently cancel, reschedule, or in other ways thwart regular father-child visits. If a parent becomes frustrated and the issue is not resolved, they may seek joint or sole physical custody. However in order to modify a joint custody agreement, a father must demonstrate such a change is in his child's best interest. The author presents a scenario of a father whose efforts…
This Australian pilot program seeks to promote cooperative post-separation parenting, through education and communications training, to reduce reliance on family courts in resolving conflicts involving the terms of court orders. Most parents using the courts for such conflicts are non-residents and while such cases represented a small number of the overall caseload, they take up a disproportionate amount of court time and resources. The Anglicare program uses the term cooperative parenting rather than co-parenting or joint parenting to describe positive post-separation parenting by both…
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Training Materials Based on the experiences of the Colorado Fatherhood Connection, this guide for community organizations explains how to develop programs to promote father involvement in family life. The chapters describe the important roles of fathers and outline practical strategies for assessing the needs of the community and planning programs. Considerations for board structure, the identification of available resources, the definition of mission and goals, staff requirements, marketing strategies, and budgeting are discussed. The resource guide also provides profiles of effective models that have been…
The Common Ground project brought together advocates, practitioners, and researchers who work primarily with low-income mothers and fathers, to develop and advance public policy recommendations to promote effective co-parenting relationships and ensure emotional and financial support for children. This first report focuses on issues surrounding the establishment of paternity. It begins by discussing paternity establishment before and after the passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), the increase of children born to unmarried parents, and…
This monograph describes Creating Lasting Family Connections (CLFC), a multifaceted youth substance abuse prevention program designed to promote the healthy development of youth at risk for alcohol and other drug abuse. Chapter 1 discusses the need for alcohol and other drug prevention initiatives, reviews historical trends in substance abuse treatment and prevention, and examines the impact of motivations on prevention practices. Chapter 2 reviews resiliency theory, the theoretical basis for the development of the CLFC program, and Chapter 3 describes the components of the CLFC program. Main…
Since father absence is associated with adverse outcomes for children, one would expect greater father involvement to obviate the negative effects of experiencing a single-parent family. Yet, many studies do not demonstrate that greater father-child interaction has beneficial effects for children and adolescents. This is because the quality of father involvement may be more important for children's wellbeing than the quantity. Using data from the 1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, this paper examines how father-child closeness may mediate the effects of family…
