The Bush administration has proposed several initiatives to improve child well-being by increasing marriage and father involvement. Research supports the intent of the proposal to create a stable environment for children. This report expands on previous studies to examine differences in family structures by race and age. Data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families are presented for six categories of family relationships: child's birth parents are married; child's parents are divorced, but the father visits regularly; the child's biological parents have never married, but are…
The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network held a roundtable in November 2003 to discuss best practices for strengthening families separated by parental incarceration. Participants reviewed national trends and examined the components of state initiatives designed to reduce recidivism and alleviate the negative impact of parental incarceration on children. Emphasis was placed on improving parenting skills and nurturing parent-child relationships. This final report summarizes the challenges identified by programs, such as the lack of family stability, limited parenting skills, child support…
This report discusses the outcomes of an evaluation of Healthy Families Arizona, a home visitation program designed to provide supportive services and education to parents of newborns who might benefit from support to strengthen their families. The program is intended to promote positive parent/child interaction and child health, and prevent child abuse and neglect. All services are voluntary and assistance is typically provided for 12 to 18 months but may be provided for up to five years. This report focuses on aggregate data that are summarized across the 23 sites that make up the Healthy…
The Responsible Fatherhood Management Information System was designed by The Lewin Group to provide a mechanism for fatherhood demonstration programs to track participation. The system stores data about the characteristics of participants, services, outcomes, and costs. The elements can be customized to address the specific requirements of each program. This manual provides printed copies of data forms and instructions for using the system. Sample data entry screens and lists of data fields are included.
This report expands on an earlier study conducted in 2000, BAYFIDS I, which reported data on the number, diversity, content, and missions of programs and the participants in them in the Bay Area. The purpose of BAYFIDS I was to track, document, and analyze the operation and impact of fathering programs, as well as the nature of county policy efforts around fatherhood. We sought to develop baseline data on participant needs, program capabilities, and agency effort. In addition, we were interested in capturing information on the attitudes and values held by program participants, program staff,…
This guidebook covers the necessary steps for nonprofit organizations that wish to implement outcome management (also known as "managing for results"), and includes guidance on establishingan outcome-oriented measurement process and practices for using the information internally.
Over a recent 32 month period, Florida's Commission on Responsible Fatherhood, in partnership with Workforce Florida, Inc., administered five locally based programs under a model called Equipping Parents to Strengthen Families. The programs were operative in Brevard, Broward, Dade, Leon and Polk counties. These programs were part of Florida's welfare reform initiative and served 980 low-income noncustodial parents by helping them find and maintain stable employment, make their child support payments and improve their relationships with their children. This report highlights the results of the…
This report examines state efforts to reduce nonmarital births since the passage of PRWORA. In addition to synthesizing existing surveys of related state efforts, the study also includes findings from a series detailed interviews with a sample of nine states. These interviews focused on how states' efforts to reduce nonmarital births had changed since passage of PRWORA, the extent to which efforts focused on teens and/or adults, challenges or barriers states encountered, changes in roles of state agencies and community-based organizations, changes in funding sources, and the potential role of…
This report examines the treatment of low-income fathers in the child support system in the U.S. and how the system could be improved. The report suggests that the time of establishment of the child support order and shortly thereafter is the key time for the child support agency to establish a more positive relationship with low-income fathers. Improving this "up-front" process could increase both financial and emotional support for children. The report analyzes default order practices, examines best state practices, and reviews and analyzes selected international practices. The report…
This report provides findings from an assessment of eight fatherhood demonstration projects funded by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), within the Department of Health and Human Services. Following an introduction in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 discusses the importance of child support for low-income families and the special issues that make collecting child support from low-income parents problematic. Much of the current national discussion about responsible fatherhood activities has focused on low-income fathers and programs to serve them. Chapter 3 describes the eight…
