Recruiting and Retaining Men in Responsible Fatherhood Programs: A Research-to-Practice Brief.

Recruiting and retaining participants are common challenges for programs serving low-income fathers. In this brief, we summarize several promising practices from the Strengthening Families Evidence Review (SFER) on recruitment and retention. The SFER, a systematic review of family-strengthening programs serving low-income fathers or couples, was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research under contract to the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families. This brief focuses on the 90 studies of 70 responsible fatherhood programs included in the SFER. From these, we have culled suggestions on how to plan for recruitment, engage fathers in services, and maintain high rates of participation. The strategies can be tailored to meet the needs of specific programs and fathers. Regardless of the strategies used, however, all programs should be prepared for an intensive effort to recruit and enroll fathers. (Author abstract)