NATIONAL CENTER ON CHILDREN IN POVERTY - A RAPIDLY CHANGING PORTRAIT OF FATHERHOOD IN AMERICA
AND HOW THE STATES ARE RESPONDING TO IT
A new report by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at Columbia University
shows a rapidly changing demographic portrait of American fathers and a surprising level of
activity in the states to promote agendas for responsible fatherhood. Much of the new activity
reported in Map and Track: State Initiatives to Encourage Responsible Fatherhood, is in response
to welfare reform and the new demographic realities facing today's fathers and families. Yet there
are many issues--such as the rapid increase in the number of single-parent families headed by
fathers--which have not yet been adequately understood by the public or addressed by state
policymakers.
The report includes national demographic data for the last two decades as well as detailed
demographic and program and policy information on all 50 states drawn from surveys conducted
by NCCP and the Council of Governors' Policy Advisors (CGPA). NCCP produced the report in
collaboration with the CGPA and the National Center on Fathers and Families at the University of
Pennsylvania. The report was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
There are two compelling reasons for states to focus on fatherhood issues. The first is that children
who are regularly and positively connected to their fathers tend to do better in school, avoid
involvement with the juvenile justice system, and have more positive relationships with their peers.
The second reason is that it is in the states' fiscal interest. Children whose fathers do not contribute
to their economic security burden the states and other taxpayers. Therefore, it is in the states'
interest to ensure that fathers who can pay do, and that other fathers have the economic supports to
be able to contribute to the well-being of their children. To that end, this report focuses on
identifying and profiling state strategies to encourage fathers to be responsible.
FINDINGS
- Explosive Growth for Single-Father Families and a Decline in the Number of
Married-Couple Families
Over two-thirds of U.S. children are growing up in households with their fathers but the
composition of the American family is rapidly changing. There has been substantial growth in the
number of families headed by single-mothers but families headed by single-fathers are growing at
a much faster rate. One in seven single-parent families is now headed by a father.
- Since 1976, the number of children in:
_ Father-only families is up by 220 percent from 863,000 to 2.8 million
_ Mother-only families is up by 56 percent from 10.9 to 17 million
_ Married-couple families is down by 9 percent from 52.9 to 48.2 million
- Increased Father Absence
The number of children affected by father-absence increased by 56 percent from 10.9 million to
17.0 million between 1976 and 1996. (This number of children refers specifically to those in
mother-only families. An additional 3.1 million children live in families in which neither parent is
present. Each year one million babies are born out-of-wedlock and another
million are newly affected by divorce.
Fathers as Economic Providers: Education Matters
Only about half of all children--48 percent--had fathers with formal education beyond high school.
Fifteen percent of children had fathers who did not complete high school and another 33 percent
had fathers who completed only high school. This has important implications for fathers' future
potential as economic providers. According to a 1994 report by the U.S. Bureau of the Census,
the average college graduate will earn more than twice as much over a lifetime ($1,420,850
million) as the average person who did not complete high school ($608,8100).
Fathers and Child Support
Almost half of all children with absent parents lack child support orders. That means fathers are
not required to pay child support for them. Even if there are orders, it does not ensure support.
Close to 40 percent of custodial mothers and one-quarter of custodial fathers did not receive
support even if they were awarded it. Many nonresident fathers have difficulty supporting their
children because they are in poverty--15 percent of nonresident fathers had incomes below the
poverty line. Low-income, nonresident fathers pay disproportionately more of their income to
child support than high-income fathers, sometimes up to two and one-half times as much.
Positively Involved Fathers Benefit Children, Families, and Taxpayers
When nonresident fathers are positively involved in their children's upbringing it benefits children,
families, and taxpayers. Children whose fathers do not contribute to their economic security
burden the states and taxpayers. Fathers with joint custody and/or visitation rights pay their child
support at a significantly higher rate. Among fathers whose children were awarded child support,
85 percent of fathers with joint custody and 79 percent of fathers with visitation rights paid some
or all of the money owed their children. Only 56 percent of other fathers made some or all of their
payments. These payment rates are almost 50 percent higher than those for fathers without joint
custody and/or visitation rights.
Fathers and Poverty
Children are much more likely to be poor when their father is absent. The poverty rate for children
in single-mother families (48 percent) was more than twice as great as the poverty rate for children
in single-father families (22 percent) and over four times as high as the rate for two-parent families
(10 percent).
On the other hand, the poverty rate for children in traditional "Ozzie & Harriet" families with a full-
time working father and a mother who is not in the labor market has increased by 136 percent
between 1975 and 1995--from 5.6 percent to 13.2 percent In 1995 there
were 1.4 million children in poverty who lived in such families.
Fatherhood and Welfare Reform
Welfare-linked changes, particularly those related to improving child support enforcement and
reaching out to noncustodial fathers are playing a central role as states shape a fatherhood agenda.
The following box highlights some of the changes related to fatherhood in the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.
Opportunities and Risks for Fathers in the 1996 Federal Welfare Law
In August of 1996, Congress enacted major legislation replacing the Aid To Families with
Dependent Children (AFDC) Program with a new Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
(TANF) block grant to the states, and strengthened child support provisions. Below is a brief
synopsis of how the legislation, known as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is likely to affect fathers.
_ Permits states to offer benefits to all poor two-parent families and, depending on how the
state defines families, to also provide services to the nonresidential parent.
_ Permits the state to offer work opportunities to the noncustodial father.
_ Requires all states to allow fathers to initiate paternity actions.
_ Makes optional and solely at the state's expense, any direct child support payments to the
families (previous law required a $50 pass through to families, with the cost shared by
federal and state governments).
_ Requires states to create a state case registry that contains basic information about all child
support awards and other information on families receiving public assistance or child
support services.
_ Allows states to revoke the driver and professional licenses of nonresident parents not
paying child support.
_ Eliminates Food Stamp eligibility for fathers behind in child support payments.
State Demographic Variation
There is considerable state-by-state variation in the demographics of fatherhood. For the years
1991-1995, the average percentage of two-parent families ranged from a low of 61 percent in
Mississippi to a high of 81 percent in Nebraska. Mother-only families ranged from a high of 36
percent in Mississippi to a low of 13 percent in Utah. The percentage of unmarried teen mothers
ranged from almost 4 percent in Mississippi to less than 1 percent in Vermont. Father-only families
as a percentage of all single-parent families also varied, from 8.6 percent in Georgia to 24.6
percent in Vermont.
HOW ARE STATES RESPONDING TO THE CHANGING FACE OF
FATHERHOOD
State Strategies to Promote Responsible Fatherhood
NCCP surveyed every state as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The survey found
that state activities to promote responsible fatherhood were clustered in five areas: (1) increasing
public awareness about responsible fatherhood; (2) preventing unwanted or too-early fatherhood;
(3) promoting fathers' ability to contribute to their children's economic security; (4) encouraging
fathers to be caregivers and nurturers; and (5) building community and state leadership capacity
around a fatherhood agenda.
There is now widespread recognition among the states of the importance of a fatherhood agenda.
50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico all report one or more activities to promote
responsible fatherhood. Seven states (Arizona, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New
Jersey, and New Mexico) report activities that cluster in each of the five areas highlighted in the
report. Eleven states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico report only one or two activities.
The remaining states report activities in three or four areas.
Enhancing Fathers as Economic Providers
* Forty-six states report strategies to strengthen fathers' roles as economic providers. Most of
the efforts reported link a fatherhood agenda with a welfare reform agenda. Strategies include:
license revocation to force noncustodial parents to pay child support; job-linked services for
noncustodial fathers, including those defined as able-bodied Food Stamp recipients; supporting
two-parent families by extending benefits to them; enhancing existing paternity establishment
procedures; outreach to mothers through Head Start and health clinics to enhance child support
collection; increasing fathers' incomes by raising state minimum wages and offering a state earned
income tax credit.
Preventing Unwanted or Too-Early Fatherhood
* Forty states report strategies to prevent unwanted or too-early fatherhood. These strategies
include: school- or community-based programs; adding a male involvement component to teen
pregnancy prevention activities and/or support for teens who are already fathers; developing
curricula to teach responsible fatherhood; and addressing issues related to statutory rape.
Strengthening Fathers' Roles as Nurturers
* Fortyr voluntary counseling for divorcing families; providing services to help resolve disputes
and see that visitation occurs; using federal dollars to develop visitation strategies to promote the
involvement of noncustodial parents (primarily fathers) with their children; efforts to enhance the
parenting skills of incarcerated men or juveniles; attaching low-income, noncustodial fathers to the
workforce; efforts to improve the workplace for fathers and families, for example, through state
family and medical leave legislation or non-income-linked efforts to help fathers with parenting
skills. No state reported any explicit strategies targeted to fathers raising children alone.
Promoting Public Awareness
Thirty-nine states report public-awareness strategies. Three-quarters of these involve
promotional activities, brochures, and the use of internet or public service announcements. The
state vision of responsible fatherhood is, in part, defined by these public-awareness campaigns.
Building State and Local Leadership Capacity Around a Fatherhood Agenda
* Twenty states reported explicit efforts to build leadership capacity to develop and implement a
fatherhood agenda, including: leadership through interagency mechanisms and or statewide
commissions or task forces; and efforts to build programmatic leadership through mini-challenge
grants to communities. In some instances, these efforts are funded with reinvestment dollars from
welfare savings.
SELECTED REFERENCES AND RELATED READINGS
Annie E. Casey Foundation. (1995). Kids Count data book: State profiles of child well-being.
Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation. The 1995 edition contains an overview and additional
national and state-by-state indicators on fathers and families.
Ash, D. O. (1997). Face to face with fathers: A report on low-income fathers and their experience
with child support enforcement. Chicago, IL: Center on Fathers, Families, and Public Policy, c/o
Family Resource Coalition.
Blankenhorn, D. (1993).Fatherless America: Confronting our most urgent social problem. New
York, NY: BasicBooks/HarperCollins.
Doherty, W.; Kouneski, E. F.; & Erickson, M. F. (1996). Responsible fathering: An overview
and conceptual framework. St. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota, Department of Family Social
Science.
Kominski, R. & Adams, A. (1994). Educational attainment in the United States: March 1993 and
1992. Washington, DC: U.S. Goverment Printing Office.
Levine, J. A. & Pittinsky, T. L. (1997). Working fathers: New strategies for balancing work and
family. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Levine, J. A. with Pitt, E. W. (1996). New expectations: Community strategies for responsible
fatherhood. New York, NY: Families and Work Institute.
McLanahan, S. & Sandefur, G. (1994). Growing up with a single parent: What hurts, what helps.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Meyer, D. R. & Garasky, S. (1991). Custodial fathers: Myths, realities, and child support policy
(Technical Analysis Paper No. 42). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Office of Human Services Policy.
National Center on Fathers and Families (NCOFF). (1996). Fathers care database: Abstracts,
annotations, and citations. Philadelphia, PA: National Center on Fathers and Families. Other
bibliographies and literature reviews on seven Core Learning topics developed by NCOFF cover
father presence matters; joblessness and unemployment; systemic barriers; co-parenting; role
transitions; and intergenerational learning.
Ooms, T.; Cohen, E.; & Hutchins, J. (1995). Disconnected dads: Strategies for promoting
responsible fatherhood (Background Briefing Report No. 36). Washington, DC: Family Impact
Seminar.
Scoon-Rogers, L. & Lester, G. H. (1995). Child support for custodial mothers and fathers: 1991
(Current Population Reports, Consumer Income Series, P60-187). Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement. (1997).
Child support enforcement: 20th annual report to Congress for the period ending September 30,
1995. Washington, DC: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
NATIONAL RESOURCES FOR ENCOURAGING RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD
Note: This list reflects the variety of institutions and organizations concerned about responsible
fatherhood. Any of the groups have information sites on the Internet.
- AT-HOME DAD
Chat Group/Network/Newsletter/Play Groups
61 Brightwood Avenue
North Andover, MA 01845
Tel: (508) 685-7931
E-mail: athomedad@aol.com
WWW: http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/athomedad/
Contact: Peter Baylies, Editor and Publisher
- CENTER FOR FATHERS, FAMILIES, AND PUBLIC POLICY
c/o Family Resource Coalition
200 South Michigan Avenue, 16th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604
Tel: (312) 341-0900
Fax: (312) 341-9361
Contacts: Kirk E. Harris, Institute Director and David Pate, Lead Consultant
- COALITION OF COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS FOR YOUTH
1055 Broadway, Suite 170
Kansas City, MO 64105
Tel: (816) 842-4246
Fax: (816) 842-7907
E-mail: ccfy@gkccf.org
Contact: Cindy Sesler Ballard, Executive Director
- COMMISSION ON HEALTH CARE FINANCE
2100 Martin Luther King Avenue, SE, Suite 302
Washington, DC 20020
Tel: (202) 727-0735
Fax: (202) 727-5645/(202) 610-3209
Contact: Paul Offner, Commissioner
- FATHER-TO-FATHER PROJECT
Children, Youth, and Family Consortium
University of Minnesota
12 McNeal Hall
1985 Buford Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108
Tel: (612) 625-8285
Fax: (612) 626-1210
WWW: http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/Fathernet/ftf.htm/
Contacts: Martha Farrell Erickson, Director and Michael Tratt, Coordinator
- NATIONAL PRACTITIONERS NETWORK FOR FATHERS AND FAMILIES
Families and Work Institute
330 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
Tel: (212) 465-2044 Extention 225
Fax: (212) 465-8637
WWW: http://www.fatherhoodproject.org
Contacts: James Levine, Director and Ed Pitt, Associate Director
- THE FUNDERS COLLABORATIVE ON FATHERS AND FAMILIES
c/o The Annie E. Casey Foundation
701 Saint Paul Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
Tel: (800) 222-1099 or (410) 223-2937
Fax: (410) 547-6624
WWW: http://www.aecf.org
Contact: Ellen Pagliaro, Planning Associate
- INSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVES
4545 42nd Street, NW, Suite 311
Washington, DC 20016
Tel: (202) 364-7111
Fax: (202) 363-3891
E-mail: instmhi@aol.com
WWW: http://www.imhi.org/imhi
Contact: Michael Benjamin, Executive Director
- THE INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD AND FAMILY REVITALIZATION
1146 19th Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 293-4420
Fax: (202) 293-4288
E-mail: irffr@aol.com
Contact: Charles A. Ballard, President
- MANPOWER DEMONSTRATION RESEARCH CORPORATION
3 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 532-3200
Fax: (212) 684-0832
WWW: http://www.mdrc.org
Contact: Gordon Berlin, Senior Vice President
- NATIONAL CENTER FOR FATHERING
10200 West 75th Street, Suite 267
Shawnee Mission, KS 66204
Tel: (913) 384-4661
Fax: (913) 384-4665
E-mail: ncf@aol.com
WWW: http://www.fathers.com
Contact: Ken Canfield, President
- NATIONAL CENTER ON FATHERS AND FAMILIES
University of Pennsylvania
Graduate School of Education
3700 Walnut Street, Box 58
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6216
Tel: (215) 573-5500
Fax: (215) 573-5508
WWW: http://www.upenn.edu/gse/ncoff/index.html
Contact: Vivian L. Gadsden, Director
- NATIONAL FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE
1 Bank Street, Suite 160
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Tel: (301) 948-0599
Fax: (301) 948-4325
E-mail: nfi1995@aol.com
WWW: http://www.register.com/father
Contact: Wade Horn, Ph.D., Director
- PUBLIC/PRIVATE VENTURES
2005 Market Street, Suite 900
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Tel: (215) 557-4400
Fax: (215) 557-4469
WWW: http://tap.epn.org/ppv/
Contact: Gary Walker, President
- THE URBAN INSTITUTE
2100 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Tel: 202-833-7200/(202) 857-8575
Fax: (202) 429-0687
E-mail: paffairs@ui.urban.org
WWW: http://www.urban.org
Contacts: Freya Sonenstein, for Fathering Issues and Elaine Sorensen, for Child Support Issues
- U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201
Tel: (202) 690-6806 or (202) 690-7507
Fax: (202) 690-6562
E-mail: mellgren@osaspe.dhhs.gov
Contact: Linda Mellgren, Social Science Analyst
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