Fatherhood

Too many of America’s children are growing up today without a father in their lives. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1960, eight million children lived in homes without fathers; in 2009, that number was up to 20 million children. In fact, almost one-third of all children in the U.S. and almost two-thirds of African American children live in homes without fathers.

Recent federal Child and Family Service Reviews of child protective services have also found a lack of involvement by fathers and paternal relatives in their children’s cases and in visiting their children. What does this lack of father engagement mean about the well-being of our children? How are positive outcomes for kids and families being impacted and how is the child welfare system being affected?

American Humane is committed to understanding:

• Fathers’ involvement in child welfare case planning and visitation.
• The reasons for increased father absence and weakening of paternal relationships.
• The impact that non-resident fathers (fathers who don’t live with their children) have on the success and long-term quality of life of their children and other family members.
• The effect of fathers’ absence on child protective services and the field of child welfare.

American Humane is committed to expanding knowledge and developing supportive resources so that:

• children regain important and lasting connections with their fathers and paternal relatives;
• fathers have new ways to redefine and embrace their roles; and
• the systems that support children and families are invigorated with new knowledge and practices that help achieve positive outcomes.

Download Fathers and Their Families: The Untapped Resource for Children Involved in the Child Welfare System (August 2003)

The federal Child and Family Services Reviews and the What About the Dads? report indicate there is very little meaningful interaction between fathers and the child welfare system. The Children’s Bureau funded the American Humane Association and its partners, the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, and National Fatherhood Initiative, to create a quality improvement center on non-resident fathers (father who do not live with their children). The center was designed to gain more knowledge on engaging non-resident fathers and their children who are involved in the child welfare system.

The center will determine, through research, the impact of non-resident father involvement on child welfare outcomes, including safety, permanence (stability of foster care placement and family reunification) and general well-being. Included in this design is the examination of the relationship between children, non-resident fathers and paternal relatives. Throughout the five years of the project, information gained will be disseminated to the U.S. Children’s Bureau, subgrantees in four sites, child welfare agencies, private service providers, the courts and legal systems, and other stakeholders.

The QIC-NRF goals are:

• To promote and support a research-based and outcome-focused approach to inform best practices related to engaging non-resident fathers and paternal family in the public child welfare system.
• To promote and support a research-based and outcome-focused approach to determine the impact of father involvement on child safety, permanence and well-being outcomes.
• To facilitate a collaborative information-sharing and problem-solving national network of professionals.
Get a free copy of Protecting Children, Vol. 24, No. 2, Bringing Back the Dads: Engaging Non-Resident Fathers in the Child Welfare System (2009).

Project Sites

Through a competitive process, the quality improvement center has selected four project sites to fund for model intervention and evaluation of father engagement, and systemic collaboration to strengthen, through father engagement, families with children in the foster care system.

The four project sites are:

• Indiana Fathers and Families Center and Indiana Department of Child Services (Marion County)
• The Division of Children and Family Services (Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Region IV; King County) and Divine Alternatives for Dads
• El Paso County (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and the Center on Fathering
• Texas Department of Family And Protective Services (Tarrant County; Ft. Worth) and the Fatherhood New Day Services

The sites are conducting a process and outcome evaluation led by their respective counties’ public child protection agencies, and have established the groundwork for innovative father engagement research. The sites have procedures for locating and contacting non-resident fathers of children in the foster care system, and all have established relationships with community organizations offering support to fathers and promoting paternal responsibility. In accordance with the center’s specifications, when possible, the four sites have male caseworkers make first contact with fathers. A model intervention curriculum consisting of 20 weekly peer-led sessions, developed under a supplemental grant, is provided to all fathers participating in the research project. The sites have assembled an array of community supports to offer fathers assistance as needed (e.g., child support enforcement assistance, legal aid, or career development resources).

Each site has retained an outside evaluator to gather and analyze qualitative data from families, workers and collateral professionals, and quantitative data from administrative sources at several points. Evaluations measure fidelity to the model and process, and the degree to which the proposed interventions successfully promote father engagement. Also, through father engagement, evaluators measure the desired father outcomes of ease of navigating through the child welfare system and the desired child outcomes of safety, permanency and well-being.

The QIC-NRF National Advisory Board
The center’s national advisory board helps guide the project and provides critical perspectives to the examination of issues, field experimentation and dissemination plans. See who’s on the board.