This paper explains the different ways that parents benefit from participating in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program (HIPPY), a home-based early intervention program that helps parents teach skills important to school readiness and success to their 3 to 5-year-old children. This free service is delivered by HIPPY home visitors who live in targeted high-need communities. The paper begins by explaining the HIPPY model and findings on the effectiveness of the HIPPY program. A chart is then provided that lists the reasonable, anticipated outcomes that will result…
The role of noncustodial fathers in the lives of low-income families has received considerable attention from policymakers and programs in recent years. While child support enforcement efforts have increased dramatically in recent years, there is evidence that many low-income fathers cannot afford to support their children financially without impoverishing themselves or their families. To address these complex issues, a number of initiatives have focused on developing services to help low-income fathers become more financially and emotionally involved with their families, and to help young…
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Journal Article With current U.S. combat opertions in Afghanistan and Iraq, military families are facing an unprecedented level of stress because of repeated and lengthy separations. The impact on children of these separations from one or both parents depends to a large extent on the remaining caregiver's ability to respond to the needs of the children. By providing supportive programs sensitive to the unique needs of military families with infant and toddlers, community initiatives such as Operation Parenting Edge (OPE) are able to maximize coping skills and promote resiliency in these families. (Author…
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Journal Article The present qualitative research focuses on homeless fathers living with their children in family shelters. Data were collected through semistructured, face-to-face interviews with homeless fathers (n = 9) and shelter directors (n = 3). Findings suggest that how fathers made meaning of their experiences in a homeless shelter was related to contextual factors and constructions of masculinity. Contextual constraints deriving from unemployment, behavioral and psychological restrictions of shelters, and new parenting roles led men to reassess their parental and masculine role identities. Results…
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Journal Article Fathers are interested in helping their infants learn. Fathers also prefer parenting education programs with active participation. This randomized controlled study with first-time fathers evaluated the effects of video self-modeling with feedback delivered during two home visits. Fathers in the intervention group (n = 81) reviewed, with a home visitor, examples of parental sensitivity and responsiveness from videotapes of the father playing with his child at five and six months. The home visitor provided the father with positive feedback and a handout. The 81 fathers in the control group…
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Journal Article Despite efforts made by management and caseworkers to promote active parental participation in the protective context, fathers or other male figures are often brushed aside from intervention. This paper presents the results of qualitative research on methods used by youth protection caseworkers (n = 22) working with stepfather families. The main objective is to identify items that encourage or discourage stepfather involvement in psychosocial interventions. Results showed that certain items do not apply solely to stepfathers, but influence youth protection caseworker decision-making from a…
