HHS Fatherhood Initiative
Research
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Fathers Involvement
in Permanency Planning and Child Welfare Casework August 2002.
This review summarizes existing literature and knowledge about non-custodial
fathers and their relations with children involved in the child welfare
system. It sets the stage for a three-year study that will provide
the federal government with a description of the extent to which child welfare
agencies identify, locate and involve non-custodial fathers in case decision
making and permanency planning. The literature review is organized
according to the following questions: What are the recent policy trends
in childrens family living arrangements and what has been the policy
response to these trends? What are the barriers to father involvement
in case planning? What are the potential effects of father involvement
in case planning? What promising practices are currently being implemented
to identify, locate and involve non-custodial fathers in child welfare cases?
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Charting Parenthod: A Statistical
Portrait of Fathers and Mothers in America. By Child Trends, 2002.
How do men feel about parenthood? How involved are fathers in day-to-day
parenting activities? Do men think single parents are just as effective
as two-parent families? Do men wait longer to have children?
While most parenting statistics have focused only on mothers, on June 13,
2002, a first-of its-kind report on parents including
fathers was released. This report looks at what is known
about both mothers and fathers, offering a more complete picture of family
life in the United States. The report was produced by Child Trends,
a non-profit, non-partisan research organization and funded by the Department
of Health and Human Services through the National Institute for Child and
Human Development/NIH and the Administration for Children and Families, the
Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, the NICHD Family
and Child Well-being Research Network, and the Ford, Annie E. Casey, David
and Lucille Packard, and William and Flora Hewlett Foundations.
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Data on marriage, divorce, and remarriage in the United States show that
43 percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 15 years.
The report, "First Marriage
Dissolution, Divorce, and Remarriage" also shows that one in three first
marriages end within ten years and one in five end within five years. The
findings are based on data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth,
a study of 10,847 women 15-44 years of age. Past research has shown that
divorce is associated with higher rates of mortality, more health problems,
and more risky behaviors such as increased alcohol use. The report is by
Mathew Bramlett and William Mosher, May 31,2001.
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"Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Practices Among Teenagers in the United
States, 1988 and 1995" presents national estimates of sexual experience,
contraceptive use, and selected aspects of sexual experience among never-married
males and females aged 15-19 in the United States. Data from the National
Survey of Family Growth and the National Survey of Adolescent Males indicate
that teenagers with more highly educated mothers, with mothers who delayed
child bearing past age 19, from two parent families, and whose schooling
was on schedule were less likely to engage in sexual risk behaviors. See:
"Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Practices Among
Teenagers in the United States, 1988 and 1995, by Joyce Abma and Freya
Sonenstein, April 2001, Series 23, No. 21.
87 pages (PHS) 2001-1997,
in PDF format only (632KB).
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Fathers
and Mothers Involvement in Their Children's Schools by Family Type
and Resident Status
This report profiles findings about the importance of fathers and mothers
involvement in their childrens education, even if parents and children
do not reside together. Released by the Department of Education/National
Center for Education Statistics the report uses data from the 1996 National
Household Education Survey to address questions about the level of involvement
of parents with their childrens schools and the relationship between
involvement and student outcomes. The report looks at differences in
fathers and mothers involvement by family and parent type.
It also examines differences in nonresident fathers and mothers
involvement with their childrens schools. The association between
fathers and mothers school involvement and student outcomes is
explored by family type and resident status.
View the full report in PDF format (545KB).
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Serving Noncustodial Parents: A Descriptive
Study of Welfare-to-Work Programs, by Karin Martinson and John Trutko
(Urban Institute) and Debra Strong (Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.), December
2000. Also available in PDF format.
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Nonresident Fathers: To What Extent Do They
Have Access to Employment-Based Health Care Coverage, by Laura Wheaton,
June 2000.
The report contains the findings presented to the Medical Support Working
Group during the course of their deliberations. These findings, based
on analysis of the Current Population Survey Child Support Supplement and
the Survey of Income and Program Participation, provided a fact-based analytical
framework for the Working Group activities. Prepared by Laura Wheaton
of the Urban Institute.
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Income and
Demographic Characteristics of Nonresident Fathers in 1993, June 2000.
During the past few years, research has shown that nonresident fathers, as
a whole, can afford to pay more child support, but that a minority of them
are poor and have limited ability to pay child support. This report
updates and improves on earlier analyses and provides more information on
the circumstances of low-income fathers. The findings confirm that
strengthening child support enforcement is warranted, but that poor fathers
may need a different approach, one building on their capacity to pay child
support. Prepared by Elaine Sorensen and Laura Wheaton of the Urban
Institute.
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The Role of Child Support in Texas Welfare
Dynamics, September 1998. (In PDF format)
The Family Support Act of 1988 (FSA) mandated a number of policy changes
to increase the employability of caretakers receiving Aid to Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC) and to improve the collection of child support
from noncustodial parents. This project investigated four research questions
about interaction between welfare and Child support in Texas: Which factors
have the greatest influence on the award and collection of child support?
To what extent does child support influence AFDC exits? To what extent does
child support reduce AFDC recidivism? And, What is the combined influence
of child support and earnings of the custodial parent in removing families
from poverty? Written by Deanna T. Schexnayder, Jerome A. Olson, Daniel G.
Schroeder and Jody McCoy. Executive
Summary (HTML) and Executive
Summary (PDF)
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Low-Income, Non-Residential Fathers: Off-Balance
in a Competitive Economy, An Initial Analysis, by Kathryn Edin, Laura
Lein, and Timothy Nelson, September 28, 1998.
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A Child Support Enforcement
Customer Satisfaction Survey, Final Report by Thérèse van
Houten of the Urban Institute and Brenda G. Cox of Mathematica Policy Research,
February 1998.
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Non-Custodial Parents Participation in
Their Childrens Lives: Evidence from the Survey of Income and
Program Participation, Executive Summary, by Christine Winquist Nord
and Nicholas Zill of Westat, Inc., August, 1996.
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Non-Custodial Parents Participation in Their
Childrens Lives: Evidence from the Survey of Income and Program
Participation. Volume 2: Synthesis of Literature and Annotated
Bibliography by Christine Winquist Nord and Nicholas Zill of Westat,
Inc., August, 1996.
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Responsible Fathering: An Overview and Conceptual
Framework, Executive Summary or Full Report
(95 Kb) by William J. Doherty, Edward F. Kouneski, and Martha Farrell Erickson
of the University of Minnesota, September, 1996.
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The Spring 2000 issue of Focus is devoted to child support
enforcement policy and low-income families
This issue of the Institute for Research on Povertys Focus magazine
provides a review of recent research and evaluation findings related to child
support enforcement policy and low-income families. The issue includes
studies on fathers, mothers and children, child support and custody policy,
and international perspectives. For more information, see the web
site: Institute for Research
on Poverty (IRP).
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The March-April 2000 issue of Poverty Research Center News
is devoted to fathers
According to the cover of the issue: The issue looks at
fathers their contribution to child well-being, the part they
play in welfare reform, and the unintended consequences of child support
policy. Moving beyond the stereotype of 'deadbeat dads', the articles
in this issue signal the role fathers can play beyond that of breadwinner.
The authors review a range of policy and program initiaties, as well as chronicle
the difficulties fathers face in sustaining a meaningful role in their
childrens lives. For more information, see the web site:
Joint Center for Poverty Research (JCPR).
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Last revised: August 23, 2004