American fathers are a highly diverse group, but the breadwinning, live-in, biological dad prevails as the fatherhood ideal. Consequently, policymakers continue to emphasize marriage and residency over initiatives that might help foster healthy father-child relationships and creative co-parenting regardless of marital or residential status. In Nurturing Dads, William Marsiglio and Kevin Roy explore the ways new initiatives can address the social, cultural, and economic challenges men face in contemporary families and foster more meaningful engagement between many different kinds of fathers and their children. What makes a good father? The firsthand accounts in Nurturing Dads show that the answer to this question varies widely and in ways that counter the mainstream "provide and reside" model of fatherhood. Marsiglio and Roy document the personal experiences of more than 300 men from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds and diverse settings, including fathers-to-be, young adult fathers, middle-class dads, stepfathers, men with multiple children in separate families, and fathers in correctional facilities. They find that most dads express the desire to have strong, close relationships with their children and to develop the nurturing skills to maintain these bonds. But they also find that disadvantaged fathers, including young dads and those in constrained financial and personal circumstances, confront myriad structural obstacles, such as poverty, inadequate education, and poor job opportunities. Nurturing Dads asserts that society should help fathers become more committed and attentive caregivers and that federal and state agencies, work sites, grassroots advocacy groups, and the media all have roles to play. Recent efforts to introduce state-initiated paternity leave should be coupled with social programs that encourage fathers to develop unconditional commitments to children, to co-parent with mothers, to establish partnerships with their children's other caregivers, and to develop parenting skills and resources before becoming fathers via activities like volunteering and mentoring kids. Ultimately, Marsiglio and Roy argue, such combined strategies would not only change the policy landscape to promote engaged fathering but also change the cultural landscape to view nurturance as a fundamental aspect of good fathering. Care is a human experience—not just a woman's responsibility—and this core idea behind Nurturing Dads holds important implications for how society supports its families and defines manhood. The book promotes the progressive notion that fathers should provide more than financial support and, in the process, bring about a better start in life for their children. A Volume in the American Sociological Association's Rose Series in Sociology

This book presents state-of-the-art findings of research on fatherhood programs, funded by the Fatherhood Research and Practice Network (FRPN), which advance knowledge and practice in the fathering field. New Research on Parenting Programs for Low-Income Fathers includes research on how to engage mothers to support father–child contact and to successfully employ social media and online technology for practice. It offers findings on how to increase paternal engagement and parenting skills and to include fathers in policies and programs for children and families. It discusses the importance of providing staff training and resources to practitioners who work directly with fathers. Chapters also provide summaries of key implications for evidence-based practice and future directions for research that encourage effective fatherhood practice. This book is an excellent resource for therapists, social workers, fatherhood educators, fatherhood practitioners, researchers, and policy makers on how to inspire positive father engagement with children and healthy coparenting relationships.

In 2012, 25% of families with children (under age 18) were maintained by mothers. According to some estimates, about 60% of children born during the 1990s spent a significant portion of their childhood in a home without their father. Research indicates that children raised in single-parent families are more likely than children raised in two-parent families (with both biological parents) to do poorly in school, have emotional and behavioral problems, become teenage parents, and have poverty-level incomes. In hopes of improving the long-term outlook for children in single parent families, federal, state, and local governments, along with public and private organizations, are supporting programs and activities that promote the financial and personal responsibility of noncustodial fathers to their children and increase the participation of fathers in the lives of their children. These programs have come to be known as “responsible fatherhood” programs. Sources of federal funding for fatherhood programs include the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, TANF state Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE) funding, Child Support Enforcement (CSE) funds, and Social Services Block Grant (Title XX) funds. In the 106th, 107th, and 108th Congresses, bills containing specific funding for responsible fatherhood initiatives were debated. President George W. Bush, a supporter of responsible fatherhood programs, included funding for such programs in each of his budgets. In the 109th Congress, P.L. 109-171 (the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005) was enacted. It included a provision that provided up to $50 million per year (FY2006-FY2010) in competitive grants to states, territories, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, and public and nonprofit community groups (including religious organizations) for responsible fatherhood initiatives. The Obama Administration's FY2011 budget included a proposal to substantially increase funding for responsible fatherhood programs under a proposed new Fatherhood, Marriage, and Families Innovation Fund. Under the proposal, the new fund would have received $500 million for FY2011 (this proposal was not passed by either the House or the Senate). Instead, P.L. 111-291 (enacted December 8, 2010) extended funding for the Title IV-A Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grants for an additional year (i.e., through FY2011). For FY2011, it appropriated $75 million for awarding funds for healthy marriage promotion activities and $75 million for awarding funds for activities promoting responsible fatherhood. Pursuant to P.L. 112- 78 (enacted December 23, 2011), the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grant programs were extended at their FY2011 funding level (on a pro rata basis) through February 29, 2012. Pursuant to P.L. 112-96 (enacted February 22, 2012), the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grant programs were extended (at their FY2011 funding level) through the end of FY2012 (on a pro rata basis). P.L. 112-175 (the government-wide continuing resolution enacted on September 28, 2012) extended funding (on a pro rata basis) for the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grant programs through March 2013 (the first six months of FY2013). Most fatherhood programs include media campaigns that emphasize the importance of emotional, physical, psychological, and financial connections of fathers to their children. Most fatherhood programs include parenting education; responsible decision-making; mediation services for both parents; providing an understanding of the CSE program; conflict resolution, coping with stress, and problem-solving skills; peer support; and job-training opportunities (skills development, interviewing skills, job search, job-retention skills, job-advancement skills, etc.). This publication briefly examines the role of the CSE agency in fatherhood programs and discusses initiatives to promote and support father-child interaction outside the parents' relationship.

Fathers are critical to their children's growth and development. Research on the involvement of men with their children stresses the important role that fathers play from infancy to adolescence. Due to the ethnically diverse population of fathers in America, culture and context frames the nature of fathering and shapes expectations within a cultural milieu. The book offers a wide range of vantage points–social work, family studies, marriage and family therapy, counseling, sociology, psychology, gender studies, anthropology, cultural and ethnic studies, urban studies, and health. There are five primary parts within this book, each of which looks at numerous facets of fatherhood in the twenty-first century. Part I defines the concept of fatherhood and family composition, becoming a father, young fathers, single fathers, fathers and daughters, and examines the father-son relationship. Part II looks at nonresident fathers, homeless fathers, incarcerated fathers, and the never married fathers. Part III reviews biological fathers, stepfathers, male foster carers, fatherhood and adoption, and gay fathers. Part IV examines the cultural dimensions of fatherhood, including Latino, African American, and Native American. Part V explores the fatherhood service delivery system by engaging fathers in culturally competent services, measuring the father's involvement, and the initiatives to support fathering. The context, practice, and gaps in responsible fatherhood programs are discussed. This informative and sensitive book will be useful for researchers, students, and professionals in the field of social work, health, family counseling, and human services. Applicable in classrooms and treatment situations, Fatherhood in America bridges the gap between research and practice through chapters authored by some of the country's foremost fatherhood scholars and clinicians by offering fresh perspectives and keen insights borne out of field experience working with fathers.

Call on men's hidden strengths to help them become responsible fathers in even the most challenging circumstances!Clinical and Educational Interventions with Fathers gives you fresh approaches for effective interventions with fathers. Whether by calling on their faith to help them deal with the complexities of fatherhood or offering high-tech interventions on the Internet, these techniques help men find their strengths, maintain their masculinity, and learn to guide, nurture, and discipline with love and responsibility. Instead of thinking of fathers as deficient, the book emphasizes finding fathers’strengths and potentials for growth. It also respects the diversity of parenting styles among fathers from various ethnic, racial, and class backgrounds.No man wants to be a bad father. Nevertheless, many men in our culture do not know how to care for the children they beget. Trapped by stereotypes of masculine behavior and deprived of positive role models, they find themselves trying to do the challenging work of fatherhood without the necessary resources, information, or support.Clinical and Educational Interventions with Fathers offers positive approaches to helping men become responsible fathers, including: designing special techniques and programs to help fathers in prison and other challenging circumstances helping fathers manage anger developing therapeutic support groups for African-American men offering Web-based support for fathers training staff to recognize and respond to fathers’unique needs finding legal tools to support fathers’rights Reaching fathers has become an ever more urgent priority for practitioners as family structure and family life change. Traditional social-service programs for mothers tend not to work well with men's very different needs and attitudes. Yet very little has been published on successful interventions with fathers. Clinical and Educational Interventions with Fathers fills that gap and suggests promising new directions for further research in this field. By offering positive, tested ways to help men become responsible fathers, this volume will help you improve their lives and the lives of their sons and daughters.

This aim of this open access book is to launch an international, cross-disciplinary conversation on fatherhood engagement. By integrating perspective from three sectors -- Health, Social Policy, and Work in Organizations -- the book offers a novel perspective on the benefits of engaged fatherhood for men, for families, and for gender equality. The chapters are crafted to engaged broad audiences, including policy makers and organizational leaders, healthcare practitioners and fellow scholars, as well as families and their loved ones.

This book looks at the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Initiative whose goals are to strengthen marriages and relationships in low-income families which has emerged as a national strategy for enhancing the well-being of children. With the passage of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), Congress appropriated $150 million in discretionary grants each year from 2006 through 2010 to implement the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Initiative. The Initiative represents an unprecedented financial commitment by the federal government to support marriage and fatherhood programs. The focus of the Healthy Marriage program is to encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent households through healthy marriage promotion activities, while the focus of the Responsible Fatherhood program is to strengthen the role of the father in a child's life. This is an edited, excerpted and augmented edition.

In 2003, 24% of families with children were maintained by mothers. According to some estimates, 60% of children born during the 1990s will spend a significant portion of their childhood in a home without their father. Research indicates that children raised in single-parent families are more likely than children raised in twoparent families (with both biological parents) to do poorly in school, have emotional and behavioral problems, become teenage parents, and have poverty-level incomes. In hopes of improving the long-term outlook for children in single-parent families, federal, state, and local governments, along with public and private organizations, are supporting programs and activities that promote the financial and personal responsibility of noncustodial fathers to their children and increase the participation of fathers in the lives of their children. These programs have come to be known as "responsible fatherhood" programs. Sources of federal funding for fatherhood programs include the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, TANF state Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE) funding, welfare-to-work funds, Child Support Enforcement (CSE) funds, and Social Services Block Grant (Title XX) funds. Beginning with the 106th Congress, the House but not the Senate passed bills containing responsible fatherhood initiatives (in the 107th and 108th Congresses as part of welfare reauthorization bills). Moreover, from the start President Bush has been a supporter of responsible fatherhood programs; each of his budgets has included funding for such programs. In the 109th Congress, several welfare reauthorization bills that provide funding for responsible fatherhood grant programs have been introduced. Most fatherhood programs include media campaigns that emphasize the importance of emotional, physical, psychological, and financial connections of fathers to their children. Most fatherhood programs include parenting education; responsible decision-making; mediation services for both parents; providing an understanding of the CSE program; conflict resolution, coping with stress, and problem-solving skills; peer support; and job-training opportunities (skills development, interviewing skills, job search, job-retention skills, job-advancement skills, etc.). To help fathers and mothers meet their parental responsibilities, many policy analysts and observers support broad-based collaborative strategies that go beyond welfare and child support agencies and include schools, work programs, prison systems, churches, community organizations, and the health care system. The federal government's support of fatherhood initiatives raises a wide array of issues. This report briefly examines the role of the CSE agency in fatherhood programs, discusses initiatives to promote and support father-child interaction outside the framework of the father-mother relationship, and summarizes the debate over whether fatherhood programs should include the "promotion of marriage."