What's New

Recent developments in father and family related information and events across research, practice, and policy. Note: Updates will occur throughout the month.

Recent Updates for Fathers & Families Research, Practice, and Policy

Research	Practice	Policy
July 2005	July 2005	July 2005

Upcoming Events

Events

Summer 2005

Events Database

Special Reports and Featured Publications

Who Let the Dads Out?

At Hoole Lighthouse Community Family Centre in Chester, fathers’ work grew from the mothers’ wishes: they wanted the men to receive encouragement and support in their parenting role, so they might become more involved at home. A classic ‘taster’ event to stir up interest and identify recruits was decided on – a dads-and-kids get-together at the Centre on the Saturday morning before Mothers’ Day. Children and fathers would eat bacon butties and ‘make mum a present’, while she had some time off. This gave the event a clear, time-limited purpose, and was attractive to everyone who might influence the men’s attendance – the mothers, the children, and the fathers themselves. The title, which neatly reflects the fact that men, more than women, tend to have anti-authority leanings, proved a winner: when WHO LET THE DADS OUT? opened its doors that Saturday, twenty-two dads walked through . . . Today, more than thirty men attend the monthly sessions . . .

For a full report on this project look out for the July 2005 edition of FatherWork Magazine: this case study is one of three detailed case studies we now include in each issue to help you develop your own practice.

Annual Subscription: £32 - subscribe to FATHERWORK http://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?prodID=8 

Fathers and Early Childhood Programmes

Fagan J & Palm G (2004) Fathers and Early Childhood Programs. New York: Delmar Learning

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recently released a Call for Presentations for Head Start's Eight National Research Conference. This Call for Presentations is open from June 15 - August 15, 2005. To access this announcement, go to http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/presentations/index.html

To Have and To Hold: Congressional Vows on Marriage and Sex by Jodie Levin-Epstein. This paper discusses what the government has already done to promote abstinence-unless-married programs and marriage, and what it proposes to do with the reauthorization of the welfare law. The article then discusses the relationship between marriage and pregnancy prevention, including research findings on the influence of childbearing on marriage. It concludes with some welfare reauthorization recommendations for Congress on this topic. A condensed version of this paper appears in the April 1, 2005, SIECUS Report, Vol. 33, No. 1.

http://www.clasp.org/publications/have_and_hold.pdf

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) announces a national audio conference on marriage and low-income families that will be held March 18, 2005, from 12:30-1:30 pm (ET). It will feature an interview with Kathy Edin, co-author of the new book Promises I Can Keep. With Congress moving forward on passage of a marriage promotion initiative, Edin’s exploration of what low-income women think and do about wedding vows is timely and illuminating. Join the call on the 18th or order a tape.

Child Abuse and the Federal Budget: CDF Fact Sheets

 As Congress considers President Bush's 2006 budget proposal, the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) has released new national and state fact sheets on child abuse and neglect that pull together important details for the budget debate. CDF argues that the Bush budget proposal makes policy choices that put the nation's most vulnerable children at greater risk. For example, the plan proposes to end a longstanding federal guarantee of funding to help to provide children with safe foster homes, and would cut Medicaid in ways that may harm children with special needs who are in the child welfare system.

All Together Now: State Experiences in Using Community-Based Child Care to Provide Pre-Kindergarten by Rachel Schumacher, Danielle Ewen, Katherine Hart, and Joan Lombardi. This paper, commissioned by the Brookings Institution, studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which pre-kindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools. It describes findings of CLASP survey of states that was undertaken to understand the policy choices, opportunities, and challenges of including community-based child care providers in their pre-kindergarten programs.

http://www.clasp.org/publications/all_together_now.pdf

Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention Annual Report 2003-2004

Describes OJJDP’s activities and accomplishments during fiscal years (FY) 2003 and 2004. During this period, OJJDP implemented significant changes in its programs resulting from the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. The Office also completed a reorganization that integrated research and other critical functions with program-related activities. OJJDP addressed a broad array of problems during the past 2 years. Priority areas included child sexual exploitation, female delinquency, gangs, and truancy. The activities described in this report illustrate the Office’s continuing commitment to supporting programs that have the greatest potential for combating delinquency, reducing the victimization of children, and improving the juvenile justice system. The report also summarizes the latest information available on juveniles taken into custody and lists OJJDP publications released during FY 2003–2004.

http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=12033

All Together Now: State Experiences in Using Community-Based Child Care to Provide Pre-Kindergarten

http://www.clasp.org/publications/all_together_now.pdf

Memo to the White House: Re-Connecting Our Youth from a Coalition of Voices from the Field.

As President Bush prepares for his second term, he has indicated a strong interest in reforming the nation’s secondary schools to ensure that every high school student graduates with proficiencies that will enable them to succeed. This memo, coordinated by The Campaign for Youth, was sent to President Bush. It offers a set of recommendations endorsed by over 200 organizations concerned about the future of struggling students--those who are at risk of dropping out as well as those who already have.
http://www.clasp.org/publications/youth_wh_memo.pdf

Marriage and the TANF Rules: A Discussion Paper

by Paula Roberts and Mark Greenberg. From the “Marriage Plus” perspective, two goals should be paramount in designing public benefits programs from a family structure perspective. First, the state should seek to develop rules that do not discourage marriage. Second, these rules should not disadvantage children who live in single-parent families. This paper explores the issues that arise in pursuing these goals. For purposes of analysis, the authors consider only the rules for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant. 

http://www.clasp.org/publications/2_parent_tanf_rules.pdf

New Regulation on Review and Adjustment of Child Support Orders

by Paula Roberts. This memo describes a new Interim Final regulation on review and adjustment of child support orders in states using the guidelines method of adjustment. The Office of Child Support Enforcement is proposing to return to a policy under which these states can adopt quantitative standards for adjusting support orders. Such standards allow states to disregard adjustments of a small magnitude, even when such adjustments could be consequential for both low-income custodial parent families and obligors.

 http://www.clasp.org/publications/cs_orders.pdf

President’s Budget Projects 300,000 Low-Income Children to Lose Child Care

http://www.clasp.org/publications/cc_2006_budget.pdf

Taking the Next Step: What Can the U.S. Learn about Sick Leave from New Zealand? by Jodie Levin Epstein.

This policy brief, based on the report High Wire Act and the second in the Work-Life Balance Series, looks at what New Zealand has done to provide paid sick days for its workers. Drawing from the New Zealand experience, the brief then provides recommendations on what United States policymakers can do to ensure that workers have paid sick days.

Download the brief: http://www.clasp.org/publications/work_life_brf2.pdf

Paternity Disestablishment in 2004: The Year in Review by Paula Roberts.

This memo analyzes the statutory and case law developments in late 2003 and 2004. It contains two appendices. The first appendix describes in detail the reported cases in 2004. The cases are divided by topic and listed alphabetically by state. The second appendix contains two charts listing the major state cases in the last seven years. One chart deals with disestablishment for marital children and the other for non-marital children. This memo follows up the publications titled Truth and Consequences, Parts I, II, and III and a memo from June 2004. All documents are available at www.clasp.org.

Download the memo: http://www.clasp.org/publications/paternity_establishment_2004.pdf

Federal Policy for Immigrant Children: Room for Common Ground? by Ron Haskins, Mark Greenberg, and Shawn Fremstad.

This policy brief, part of the Future of Children Policy Brief Series by the Brookings Institution, offers differing views from its authors on how to improve the well-being of children in immigrant families in the United States. Haskins emphasizes the need to tie public benefits for immigrant families to work through such policies as education and training and the earned income tax credit for families with children. While Greenberg and Fremstad argue that noncitizen families should have the same eligibility for public assistance as citizen families and support greater financial aid for early childhood education and other forms of schooling.

Download: http://www.brookings.org/es/research/projects/wrb/publications/pb/foc_14_2.htm

Survey: Sports, Arts, Clubs, Volunteering – Out-of-School Activities Play Crucial, Positive Role for Kids (All Work and No Play?)

New research points to differences between policy makers' focus on programs' educational value and what most families are really seeking; Low-income and minority families much less satisfied with their children's options

http://www.publicagenda.org/press/press_release_detail.cfm?list=59

What Parents Are Saying About TV Today

Jean Johnson, with Jackie Vine and Leslie Moye.

Based on Public Agenda's broader research on families, this analysis outlines parents' concerns about sex, violence, and profanity on TV and profiles some of the important differences among various groups of parents those with young children vs. those with teens, for example. It chronicles parents' sometimes frustrating efforts to regulate their own children's viewing and suggests why many of them are not as successful in this area as they hope to be.

http://www.publicagenda.org/research/research_reports_details.cfm?list=14

Casey Connects

Casey Connects is a newsletter that reports on current activities of the Foundation and its grantees. The Fall 2004 issue highlights efforts to help organizations survive the departure of a trusted leader and use the transition as a pivotal opportunity for growth. The issue also describes the impressive results of a national campaign to help low-income families claim tax credits and includes several “notes of recognition” honoring staff and grantees whose work is winning awards and acclaim. Past issues are also available. http://www.aecf.org/

Millions of Families Work Hard but Struggle to Make Ends Meet

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than one in four American working families now earn wages so low that they have difficulty surviving financially, a new report concludes.

The report finds that too many jobs pay poor wages and provide no benefits, and that American workers are poorly prepared and supported to move into better paying jobs.

“Those who work should be able to support a family with confidence that continued hard work will lead to a brighter future,” the report states. “For far too many American families, that notion remains appealing but remote. In this exceedingly prosperous society, we can and must do better.”

National Academies Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF)

Children's Health, the Nation's Wealth: Assessing and Improving Child Health provides a detailed examination of the information about children's health that is needed to help policy makers and program providers at the federal, state, and local levels. In order to improve children's health -- and, thus, the health of future generations -- it is critical to have data that can be used to assess both current conditions and possible future threats to children's health. This compelling book describes what is known about the health of children and what is needed to expand the knowledge. By strategically improving the health of children, we ensure healthier future generations to come.

http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10886.html

Drawing from the Data: Working Effectively with Latino Families

Pediatricians and public health providers who work with Latino families have little information about the incidence and prevalence of diseases affecting Latino children. Furthermore, almost no information is available about the health risks faced by Latino children who reside in communities with inadequate resources and persistent poverty. To more effectively promote health and support disease prevention activities among Latino families, heath care providers need better information about the social, economic, and health risks these families face. Drawing from the Data: Working Effectively with Latino Families represents a step in filling that information void.

http://secure.mycart.net/catalogs/catalog.asp?prodid=2680816&showprevnext=1

Arizona Fathers & Families Coalition Seeks Workshop Proposals for Annual Conference

As a reminder, Arizona Fathers & Families Coalition, Inc. is planning for next year's event 16-18th February, 2005 the 6th Annual Southwestern Fatherhood & Families Conference, Phoenix, AZ.

The theme of the conference is "Making the Connection." The AFFC web site (http://www.azffc.org) will provide more information about the conference theme.

The submission deadline for presenters is 30 August, 2004, therefore, a swift response is recommended from those who would like to be considered as one of the talented presenters or keynote speakers. Please call (602)-495-8845 or (800)-603-9309 to obtain a workshop application, or email info@azff.org.

In Search of Fatherhood, A Newsletter Forum For and About Fathers of the World, published by BSI, International, Inc.

This quarterly publication features profiles of important organizations devoted to fathers concerns, articles by leaders in the field, and dialogues with fathers.

The Summer 2004 issue includes a discussion on the Fathers' Rights and the Marriage Movement by Howard University Political Science Professor and President of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D.; Mr. Roger F. Gay, a well-known researcher and critic of current child support guidelines and child support policies; Ms. Rebecca O’Neill, a family policy researcher with the independent think-tank Civitas: The Institute of Civil Society in London; and Mr. Tom Sylvester, an affiliate scholar at the Institute for American Values. Also featured is an interview with Mr. Terrance Dean, the Founder of Men's Empowerment, Inc. and a former producer at MTV. Mr. Dean talks about leaving a high-powered fast track career as a producer at MTV and explores a number of Fatherhood and men's issues. 

For information on subscribing, contact BSI at publisher@bsi-international.com, or visit their web site at www.bsi-international.com. Cost of an annual subscription is only $9.95.

Fathering Journal —Special Issue on Head Start!

The Spring 2004 issue of Fathering is now available. To read abstracts of the articles, visit the journal web site at http://www.mensstudies.com/msp/harriman/fathering.html.

The premier issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice aboutMen as Fathers, was published in February 2003. Dr. Jay Fagan, Fathering’s editor, has brought together a renowned group of scholars/researchers to serve on the editorial board for this first-ever scholarly journal devoted solely to the growing and diverse study of fathering issues. For more information contact Jay at JayFagan@mensstudies.com.

Fathering will publish theoretical, research-, or practice-based original articles. Some of the topics that will be presented in Fathering are: father-child issues, fathers’ roles in dual-earner families, paternal involvement in divorced families, step-fathers’ roles in blended families, father presence/absence and its impact on children, child-custody issues, measures of father involvement, fathering in the context of marital relationships, co-parenting issues, consequences of becoming a father for men, outcomes ofintervention programs on fathers and families, and fathers’ socioemotional involvement in their children.

For information about subscription rates for Fathering or any other Men’s Studies Press publication, contact Dr. James Doyle at doyle@mensstudies.com.

In Stepdads: Stories of Love, Hope, and Repair, William Marsiglio addresses provocative and timely questions facing stepfathers, single mothers, and remarried couples today. This book speaks to those who study and work with stepfamilies as well as persons who have ever thought about or lived in a stepfamily.

In a recent review, Andrew Cherlin of John Hopkins University said, "Stepdads is the best examination yet of the inner worlds of stepfathers. It provides a good sense of the great diversity among stepfamilies and of the challenges that many stepfathers successfully surmount in creating
a place for themselves in their new families."

For further information on this new and exciting book, visit the author's web site.

Heading Home: Offender Reintegration into the Family, Vivian L. Gadsden, Editor, American Community Corrections Association and International Community Corrections Association., 2003.

For information on ordering this book, contact the publisher at 800-222-5646.

Fathers and Early Childhood Programs, Jay Fagan and Glen Palm, Delmar Publishing, 2003.

Fathers and Early Childhood Programs is intended to introduce the reader to many of the critical issues that are being studied about fathers in the social sciences. The authors review the available research regarding father involvement in programs for young children and they present the results of 33 in-depth interviews they have collected on this subject. They present the theoretical perspectives they see as relevant to building better partnerships between programs and fathers. The authors offer practical suggestions for working with fathers, staff and the community to facilitate increased father and family involvement. Additionally, tools to enhance or start a father involvement program and fun and educational activities for fathers are included in this textbook.

Key Features:

• Detailed information on strategies involving fathers in early childhood programs can be translated into useful approaches for increasing father participation
  
• Case examples of father involvement enable readers to more easily connect with the ideas presented
  
• Many useful tools such as needs assessment instruments can be used to enhance or start a father-involvement program
  
• Information on how working with fathers differs from working with mothers will help students adapt the skills they have acquired
  
• Fun and educational activities to do with fathers can be adapted to meet the needs and interests of father in particular programs
  

To order a copy of this book, visit the publisher web site.

Bay Area Fathering Programs Initatives: Policymaker and Practitioner Perspectives on Integrating Fathering Efforts 2003 Report and Bay Area Fathering Programs Directory (BAYFIDS) 2003 Directory Released!

The National Center on Fathers and Families announces the release of the BAyFIDS II report, Bay Area Fathering Programs Initatives: Policymaker and Practitioner Perspectives on Integrating Fathering Efforts and the The Bay Area Fathering Programs (BAyFIDS) 2003 Directory.

The BAyFIDS II report expands on an earlier study conducted in 2000, BAyFIDS I, which reporteddata on the number, diversity, content, and missions of programs and the participants in them in the Bay Area. The current report extends the earlier report in two ways. First, it offers through the BAyFIDS Directory an updated count of the number of programs still in existence since the original study as well as new programs. It also offers information on shifts in the operation of and services provided by these programs in response to the diverse populations served. Second, BAyFIDS II addresses directly policy changes in the nine counties as they relate to program development, implementation, expansion, and devolution. In addition, it provides perspectives from primary child and family services offices as well as education systems in the nine counties about the critical issues being faced by the counties, the role of fathering within the larger domain of child and family support, the integration of fatherhood issues into different segments of their work, and the implications of legislative discussions at the national level, such as legislative proposals on marriage. By highlighting these issues, this document seeks to identify the efforts of county agencies, changes that have occurred in both programming and planning, and the future of fatherhood efforts within government agencies serving children and families. To learn more about the BAyFIDS Project and to download the full report or executive summary inPDF format, visit the NCOFF web site.

The Bay Area Fathering Programs (BAyFIDS) 2003 Directory is one of several products to emerge from The Bay Area Fathering Integrated Data System (BAyFIDS) policy research project. The overarching goal of the project is to deepen the fieldís knowledge of fathers and families programs, the participants in them, and the potential of these programs to contribute to integrated activities that support children and families. BAyFIDS is designed to track, document, and analyze the operation and impact of fathering programs and the nature of local and county policy efforts in nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.

Why is the Directory important? At the outset of the project, many organizations and governments in the Bay Area offered fathering services. However, there was little information on the nature of coordination across programs; between public and private efforts; or between public efforts funded by different government agencies at the local, state, and national levels. Without a comprehensive list of programs and their outcomes in the region, it was and continues to be difficult to determine what service gaps exist, both within specific geographic areas and in terms of programmatic offerings. The intention of the BAyFIDS project has been to provide this missing, but critical, information to fathering programs, practitioners, and policymakers at local and county levels, enabling them to coordinate efforts and share knowledge.

What does the Directory contain? The Directory represents the cornerstone of the BAyFIDS project's information-gathering efforts. It is a catalog of organizations addressing fathering issues; it provides individuals, agencies, organizations, and governments with a compendium of fathering programs. In addition to listing contact information and service offerings, the Directory includes data on program mission, objectives, populations served, and duration. A listing of selected county, state, and national resources is provided in the Appendices.

In what formats is the Directory available? The Directory is available in two forms: (1) as a downloadable PDF document and (2) as an interactive website (http://www.bayfids.org). The website contains an overview of the project, descriptions of each Bay Area county included in the study, information on relevant national and county resources, and a searchable version of this Directory. If you are unable to download the electronic version of this report, please visit the Adobe website to download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing PDF files. This software is free and is necessary to open PDF documents.

New — Men's Studies Press Quarterly

Men's Studies Press, publisher of Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice about Men as Fathers and the Journal of Men's Studies, announces the publication of Men's Studies Press Quarterly. This new publication will keep you up-to-date on the books and journals from the Men's Studies Press. It will also include special stories on authors, editors, and associated organizations. This new publication is available only in online format using an exciting new technology--DigitalWebBook (DNL) format. This is a self-contained, multi-paged e-book that can be easily and safely downloaded to your computer, or printed for later reading.

To access the Men's Studies Press Quarterly, visit the Men's Studies Press web site and click on the MSP Quarterly button (left side of home page). This will open the instruction page, which contains the link to the Men's Studies Press Quarterly, Spring 2003. If you don't have the DNL Reader loaded on your computer, there is an easy link to download the software. This software is compatible with PC's running Windows or Mac's running Virtual PC.

Special Assessment of the Field Report Now Available from The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Social Policy Action Network!

Making Fathers Count: Assessing the Progress of Responsible Fatherhood Efforts, Kathleen Sylvester and Kathleen Reich, 2002.

Produced by the Social Policy Action Network and The Annie E. Casey Foundation, this report is intended for researchers, advocates, practitioners, and funders in the fatherhood field. It is also written as a call to action for leaders of social services organizations and public agencies that work traditionally only with women and children who will learn why fathers are critical to the success of their efforts and how they can integrate them into their work. The document contains a chronology of the emergence of the fatherhood field and its leading players from 1975 to the present, and includes a list of resource organizations.

To download a copy of the report in PDF format, visit the Annie E. Casey Foundation's, or Social Policy Action Network's web sites.

Roundtable Summary Available!  "Roundtable on Constructing and Coping with Incarceration and Family Re-Entry: Perspectives from the Field."

The summary report of this important roundtable is now available in PDF format. This Roundtable, which was held in November 2001, addressed several overarching themes: the ambivalence that exists toward the impact of incarceration on families and communities, resulting in a confusion of approaches to the problem; the issues surrounding re-integration and eliminating recidivism; the lack of research data; and the need for greater program support for incarcerated parents.

The video files from the Roundtable WEB CAST are still available for viewing from the NCOFF web site. The video files must first be downloaded. We suggest using a high-speed Internet connection to download these files. To watch these videos, the requirements remain the same as those for the live event.

NCOFF hopes that the discussion resulting from the Roundtable will lead researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to investigate approaches that address the complexities of presence, absence and re-entry of incarcerated fathers into the lives of children and families.

"The Fathering Indicators Framework," National Center on Fathers and Families, March 2001.

In The Fathering Indicators Framework: A Tool for Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis, NCOFF provides a detailed overview of the research and theory that informed the development of the Fathering Indicators Framework (FIF). The FIF was designed to help researchers, practitioners, and policymakers conceptualize, examine, and measure change in fathering behaviors in relation to child and family well-being. The report provides a background summary of what we know—and what we need to know—about father involvement and following behaviors across six categories, as identified in the research literature, through evaluations of programs, and by policy reports. It also considers how the FIF could be used to inform research, practice, and policy, as well as what users should consider when applying the framework. To read more about the FIF or download a copy of the report, visit the NCOFF web site.

Core Learnings Literature Reviews now in PDF format. (December 2003)
The NCOFF Core Learnings Literature Reviews are now available to be downloaded in PDF format. Previously, they were only available in HTML format. To access them, visit the NCOFF pages in the Organizations section.

 

For further information or questions regarding this web site, please email mailbox@ncoff.gse.upenn.edu

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