One in six newborns were born poor over the past 40 years, and nearly half remained poor half their childhoods. These persistently poor children are nearly 90 percent more likely than never-poor children to enter their 20s without completing high school and are four times more likely to give birth outside of marriage during their teenage years. Children whose parents did not complete high school are less likely to complete high school themselves. This paper examines the magnitude of child poverty, family characteristics related to childhood poverty persistence, and childhood poverty's lasting…
Nearly half of children born to poor parents remained poor half their childhoods. Black children are especially disadvantaged: two-thirds of poor black newborns are persistently poor. Children who are poor early in life (age 0-2) are 30 percent less likely to complete high school than those first poor later in childhood, even after controlling for poverty duration and other factors. Reaching vulnerable children at birth is vital, as a childs early environment can affect brain development. This factsheet summarizes the report Child Poverty and Its Lasting Consequence". (Author abstract)
This study evaluated the family-inclusive case management component of the Chicago-based Safer Return program, which engages family members in service provision to former prisoners. Using qualitative and quantitative data, the research focused on the associations between family support and family members' and formerly incarcerated persons' short-term outcomes. The research found that family members have strong and positive relationships with their formerly incarcerated relatives. However, engaging families in the reentry process directly can be challenging because incarcerated persons are…
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Journal Article Objectives. Because of their youth, adolescent parents often lack the interpersonal skills necessary to manage the relationship challenges involved in parenting, leaving them and their children vulnerable to the health risks associated with relational stress and conflict. The primary goal of this study was to test the efficacy of the Young Parenthood Program (YPP), a 10-week counseling program administered during pregnancy and designed to facilitate interpersonal skill development and positive parenting among adolescent parents. Methods. Participants included 105 pregnant adolescents and…
Demonstrating the urgent need for broad national action and collaboration between private and public leaders in our communities, The White House Council for Community Solutions released an analysis showing that in 2011 alone, taxpayers shouldered more than $93 billion to compensate for lost taxes and direct costs to support the young people disconnected from jobs and school. At least one in six young adults is disconnected from education and work, according to this report. Projections show that over the lifetime of these young people, taxpayers will assume a $1.6 trillion burden to meet the…
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Journal Article Approximately one in four incarcerated male young offenders in the UK is an actual or expectant father. This paper reviews evidence on the effectiveness of parenting interventions for male young offenders. We conducted systematic searches across 20 databases and consulted experts. Twelve relevant evaluations were identified: 10 from the UK, of programmes for incarcerated young offenders, and two from the US, of programmes for young parolees. None used experimental methods or included a comparison group. They suggest that participants like the courses, find them useful, and the interventions…
Brief
This research brief describes implementation findings from the evaluation of Responsible Fatherhood, Marriage and Family Strengthening Grants for Incarcerated and Reentering Fathers and Their Partners (MFS-IP). It documents approaches to teaching relationship skills among incarcerated and reentering fathers and their families. The multi-year implementation and impact evaluation of the MFS-IP grants is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Author abstract)
Unpublished Paper
The purpose of this study was to examine longitudinally how father involvement mediates the relationship between a variety of factors thought to influence the father-child relationship and later child cognitive development. The Responsible Fathering Framework was used as a conceptual model to test items collected in a large national data set (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort Study [ECLS-B]). Latent variables were constructed from the ECLS-B when the child was 9-months, 2-years, and 4-years among a sub sample of married resident biological fathers using exploratory and…
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Journal Article The association between paternal involvement in therapy, adolescent outcomes and maternal depression was examined within the context of Multisystemic Therapy (MST), an empirically supported, family- and community-based treatment for antisocial adolescents. Ninety-nine families were recruited from five mental health agencies providing MST. We compared families with paternal involvement in therapy (PIT) to families with no paternal involvement in therapy (NPIT) in pre-post change in adolescents' externalizing and internalizing behaviours and also in maternal depression. There was a significant…
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Journal Article Objective: The role of substance abuse (SA) and depression on paternal parenting has recently gained attention in the research literature. Both SA and depression have been associated with negative parenting in fathers, but studies to date have not examined the mediating role that depression may play in the association of SA and fathering. Methods: SA, depression, and parenting data were reported by 87 fathers presenting for SA evaluation. Bootstrap mediation modeling was conducted to determine the role of depression on the association between SA and negative parenting. Results: Depression…
