Brief
In fiscal year 2018, noncustodial parents were obligated to pay nearly $33.6 billion in current child support on behalf of the 15 million children served by the Title IV-D child support program. One-third of that, or $11 billion, was not collected. Unemployment is the leading reason for non-payment of child support by noncustodial parents. This brief will explore the opportunities at the state and federal levels to provide employment services to noncustodial parents and increase child support payments in the process.
As the American family changes, fatherhood is changing in important and sometimes surprising ways. Today, fathers who live with their children are taking a more active role in caring for them and helping out around the house. And the ranks of stay-at-home and single fathers have grown significantly in recent decades. At the same time, more and more children are growing up without a father in the home.The changing role of fathers has introduced new challenges as dads juggle the competing demands of family and work. This report highlights key findings about fathers from Pew Research Center…
Reading to your children from an early age will help them become interested in reading – and children who enjoy reading tend to do better in school and have more employment opportunities as adults! Children often become interested in reading by watching and mimicking their parents or participating in child-parent reading routines. Reading and telling stories to your children is not just good for them, it’s fun for dads too. It provides a positive way to stay involved in your children’s lives and creates memories to share with them as they get older. (Author abstract)This tip sheet is…
Brief
This brief provides a general overview of four Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grantees involved in the Parents and Children Together (PACT) Evaluation. The brief: 1) provides a general overview of two approaches to service delivery in fatherhood programs; 2) documents how service delivery is linked to fathers’ characteristics; and 3) describes how service delivery approach may be linked to program participation and retention rates. Data gathered via staff interviews, program observations conducted during site visits in fall 2013; ongoing interactions with leadership at each program; and data on…
Brief
The Fatherhood Research and Practice Network (FRPN) convened a workgroup of experts in the field of fatherhood and father involvement to develop a research agenda that defines the state of the current research in this area, identifies extant gaps in this research, and generates suggestions for future research. The goal is for the workgroup's ideas to inform subsequent funding by the FRPN for evaluation and research projects that seek to enhance our collective understanding of the important role fathers play in the lives of their children and how programs and policies can strengthen this role…
Brief
This policy brief provides an overview of the Child Support system, the barriers Child Support creates for low-income families, and the policy changes needed for it to effectively meet the collective needs of very low-income fathers, mothers and children. Drawing upon Women In Fatherhood Inc.'s (WIFI's) qualitative research with women, research on fragile families, and interviews with female experts in the fatherhood field, we provide suggestions for changes to Child Support that will better ensure children are cared for and supported by both parents while encouraging father involvement and…
This tip sheet provides specific guidelines for healthcare providers to start and facilitate conversations with parents and children on core relationship skills such as communication, conflict resolution, parenting, and financial literacy. (Author abstract)
Brief
This handbook offers some keys to successful coparenting relationships. It also offers strategies to raise a child as a team, whether the parents are romantically together or not. This guide will help coparents to learn to communicate, handle differences, manage anger, develop a written partners-in-parenting agreement, handle money wisely, learn what it takes to have a good, long lasting couple relationship or marriage and handle the tough issues that can break couples apart.
Brief
This fact sheet suggests strategies for parents to teach their children about money management and how to be in control of their finances. Tips include modeling smart money decisions and how to guide children to also make smart money decisions. This publication also offers different options for how to teach children to manage their money well.Note: PDF version available.
Brief
Low-skilled men, especially minorities, typically work at low levels and provide little support for their children. Conservatives blame this on government willingness to support families, which frees the fathers from responsibility, while liberals say that men are denied work by racial bias or the economy--either a lack of jobs or low wages, which depress the incentive to work. The evidence for all these theories is weak. Thus, changing program benefits or incentives is unlikely to solve the men's work problem. More promising is the idea of linking assistance with administrative requirements…
