"FATHER  INVOLVEMENT  IN  THE  LIVES  OF  THEIR  CHILDREN"
(Fatherhood publications collected by the "National Child Care Information Center")

Provided as a courtesy by "Family Life Team Educators" working in the State of Illinois.

The following publications provide a sample of information on father involvement.  The first section lists publications that have information specifically on research and on strategies that relate to father involvement in the education of their children.  The second section has information on publications that have explored father involvement in Head Start and Early Head Start programs. The third section has more general information about involvement of fathers in the care and support of their children.

Father Involvement in the Education of their Children:

• Fathers and Early Childhood Programs (2004), by Jay Fagan and Glen Palm, published by Early Childhood at Thomson Delmar Learning, introduces critical issues that are being studied about fathers in the social sciences. Research regarding father involvement in programs for young children is reviewed and the results of 33 in-depth interviews are presented. Detailed information on strategies involving fathers in early childhood programs can be translated into useful approaches for increasing father participation. Additional information is available on the Web at:
  http://www.delmarlearning.com/Browse_CatalogDetail.asp?XXID=11623&ISBN=1401804632.
  
  
• "Reaching Out to Fathers: An Examination of Staff Efforts That Lead to Greater Father Involvement in Early Childhood Programs" (Fall 2003), in Early Childhood Research and Practice Vol. 5, No. 2, by Stephen Green, published by the Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative (ECAP), studied early childhood educators' efforts to involve fathers in their programs and examined which program efforts lead to greater father involvement. Surveys were completed by 213 early childhood educators attending regional training events. Findings demonstrate that efforts are being made in a number of areas to increase father involvement. Multiple regression analysis revealed that three factors significantly accounted for early childhood educators' success at involving fathers: (1) including the father's name on the enrollment form, (2) sending written correspondence to fathers even if they live apart from their children, and (3) inviting fathers to the center to participate in educational activities with their children. This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v5n2/green.html.
  
  
• "Engaging Fathers: Issues and Consideration for Early Childhood Educators" (November 2002), in Young Children Vol. 57, No. 6, by Aisha Ray and Vivian Gadsden, published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), discusses what early childhood programs can do to engage fathers in their children's lives. The article covers the work of fathering programs, differences in maternal and paternal caregiving styles, co-parenting compacts, and fathers participating in literacy and other learning activities with their children at home or in school. Additional information is available on the Web at: 
  http://naeyc.org/resources/journal/item-detail.asp?page=5&docID=2805&sesID=1081786735693.
  
  
• "Fathers Caring for Their Children (September 2001), Child Care Connections Vol. 10, No. 1, University of Wisconsin-Extension, looks at the changing role of fathers as they care for their children and suggests ways to involve fathers in child care.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.uwex.edu/ces/flp/ece/tips/pdfs/connect0901.pdf.
  
  
• Fathers' and Mothers' Involvement in Their Children's Schools by Family Type and Resident Status (May 2001), by the National Center for Education Statistics, uses data from the 1996 National Household Education Survey to address questions about the level of involvement of parents with their children's 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 children's schools.  The association between fathers' and mothers' school involvement and student outcomes is explored by family type and resident status.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001032.pdf. 
  
  
• Hispanic Fathers and Family Literacy: Strengthening Achievement in Hispanic Communities (December 2000), prepared by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), under a cooperative agreement with the Office of Minority Health, reports on a dialogue with community providers of services for Hispanic fathers, national Hispanic organizations, literacy programs, and advocates for fatherhood held on January 13, 2000.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://fatherhood.hhs.gov/hispanic01/index.htm.
  
  
• "The Good Business of Being Father-Friendly-Does Your Business Welcome Male Customers?" (September/October 2000), in Child Care Information Exchange, describes six areas of father-friendly service in child care.  For additional information, contact Child Care Information Exchange at 800-221-2864 or on the Web at: 
  http://www.ccie.com.
  
  
• A Call to Commitment: Fathers' Involvement in Children's Learning (June 2000), by National Center for Fathering, for the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is designed to inform, promote, and celebrate fathers' increased participation in children's learning.  It recognizes that promoting fathers' involvement depends greatly on the knowledge, attitudes, and skills of the teachers, administrators, child care providers, and social support staff.  Benefits of family involvement, strategies to improve involvement, and examples of programs are included.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/calltocommit/fathers.pdf.
  
  
• "Fathers' Involvement in Programs for Young Children" (July 2000), in Young Children Vol. 55, No. 4, by Vicki P. Turbeville, Gardner T. Umbarger, and Anne C. Guthrie, published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), discusses such barriers as work schedules, different interactional styles, and the perceptions others hold of male power, and concludes that programs can better facilitate participation by building on fathers' needs, respecting that they do have an interest, listening to them, and also rethinking the definition of involvement.  For additional information, contact NAEYC at 800-424-2460 on the Web at: 
  http://naeyc.org/resources/journal. 
  
  
• Father-Friendliness Organizational Self-Assessment and Planning Tool (2000), by Nigel Vann and Joann Nelson-Hooks, for the National Center for Strategic Nonprofit Planning and Community Leadership (NPCL) in partnership with the National Head Start Association (NHSA); the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Region V; and the Illinois Department of Public Aid, Division of Child Support Enforcement, helps Head Start and other family service programs assess their organization's readiness to provide services to fathers and father figures. There are three parts to the self-assessment package: Organizational Self-Assessment; Action Plan for Becoming More Father Friendly; and Feedback on Usefulness of Tool.  The assessment considers seven categories - Organizational Support; Position and Reputation in the Community; Agency Policies and Procedures; Staffing/Human Resources; Program Services; Physical Environment; and Communication and Interaction.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.nhsa.org/parents/parents_father_assess.htm.
  
  
• Involving Men in the Lives of Children (1999) is a brochure by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  The publication provides ideas for programs, teachers, employers, men, and women on how to engage fathers in the lives of their children.  For additional information, contact NAEYC at 800-424-2460 or on the Web at: 
  http://naeyc.org.
  
  
• "A Man's Place is ... in the Child Care Center: Strategies for Getting Men Involved" (July/August 1999), in Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children, lists steps some centers have taken to reach out to men.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.4children.org/news/799dads.htm. 
  
  
• "Don't Take No for An Answer: Lessons from the Field for Reaching Dads" (Fall 1999), in Children and Families Vol. 18, No 4, by Joseph T. Jones, Jr., published by the National Head Start Association (NHSA), is one of several articles on father involvement in Head Start.  For additional information, contact the National Head Start Association at 703-739-0875 or on the Web at:
  http://www.nhsa.org.
  
  
• Getting Men Involved: Strategies for Early Childhood Programs (1998), by James A Levine, Dennis T Murphy and Sherrill Wilson, Families and Work Institute (FWI), is a hands-on guide for people working in early childhood programs who want to involve fathers and other significant males in children's lives.  The first part outlines four "stages" of reaching and working with men and includes over 100 practical strategies.  The second part profiles 14 exemplary programs throughout the United States.  For additional information, contact FWI at 212-465-2044 or on the Web at: 
  http://www.fatherhoodproject.com. 
  
  
• Promoting Family-Centered Child Care (1997), a brochure developed by the National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC), includes information on father involvement.  This resource is available on the Web at:
  http://nccic.org/pubs/famcent/fam-toc.html. 

Father Involvement in Head Start and Early Head Start Programs:

• "Predictors of Father and Father-Figure Involvement in Pre-Kindergarten Head Start" (2003), an NCOFF Brief, by the National Center on Fathers and Families (NCOFF), used an ecological framework to examine predictors of paternal involvement in urban Head Start programs among 134 fathers and father figures with preschool-age children. Paternal involvement measures included teacher and father perceptions of participation, as well as amount of time as obtained from daily record sheets. The findings of the study indicated that characteristics of the child, father, family, and Head Start program predicted paternal involvement in Head Start. Fathers were more involved with their sons and with Head Start sites that provided programmatic support for male involvement. Involvement was also positively related to paternal nurturance and mother involvement in Head Start. The results also suggested that teachers were better judges than fathers of the amount of involvement in Head Start. This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.ncoff.gse.upenn.edu/briefs/faganbrief.pdf.
  
  
• Understanding Fathering: The Early Head Start Study of Fathers of Newborns (May 2003), by Cheri A. Vogel, Kimberly Boller, Jennifer Faerber, Jacqueline D. Shannon, and Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda, published by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., focused on how low-income families contribute to their children's development and understanding the factors that affect fathers' continuing support of and engagement in relationships with their children-even if the mother-father relationship ends. It explored who the fathers are; what their level of involvement with their families and children is; and how and why involvement changes over time. This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/ehsnewborns.pdf.
  
  
• Father Involvement in Early Head Start Programs: A Practitioners Study (2002) Helen Raikes, Kimberly Boller, Welmoet vanKammen, JeanAnn Summers, Abbie Raikes, Debbie Laible, Brian Wilcox, Lenna Ontai, and Lanette Christensen, published by Mathematica Policy Research Inc., presents findings from a survey of Early Head Start program practices concerning father involvement. The survey was completed by 261 of 416 eligible Early Head Start programs in the winter of 1999-2000. In the typical Early Head Start program, slightly fewer than half of the children have a resident father (44.6%). However, a number have involved nonresident fathers (24.9%). Most programs serve several children whose fathers are incarcerated (73.7% of all programs). Most programs think of themselves as novices when it comes to father involvement (72%); some think they are more experienced (21%); and a few regard themselves as experts in father involvement (7%). Nearly all programs try to involve resident biological fathers (98.8%) and resident father figures (94.8%); however, there was more variation when it came to intentions to involve nonresident fathers. Programs varied in the types of goals they set for involving fathers. On average, Early Head Start programs reported they invite fathers to 13 of the 26 activities measured by the Father-Friendly Activities Scale. Most mature programs (i.e., those that involve fathers) have designated day-to-day responsibility for father involvement to a specific individual in their agency (82.4%). Most mature programs had hired male staff (83.3%). Mature programs were more likely to reach out to incarcerated fathers. Recommendations are offered to encourage father involvement in Early Head Start programs.. This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://ccfl.unl.edu/projects/pdf/Final_Father_Involvement_Report.pdf.  
  
  
• Early Head Start Father Studies Papers/Presentations (December 2002), by the Early Head Start Father Studies Workgroup, is a bibliography of papers and presentations and research studies presented or published by the Early Head Start Research Consortium members through December 31, 2002.  This resource is available on the Web at:
  http://fatherhood.hhs.gov/on-going/headstart.htm. 
  
  
• Fatherhood Initiative: Resource Guide (December 2001), available from the Head Start Information & Publication Center, was developed to assist the Head Start community in its effort to support the Fatherhood Initiative, which was launched in 1995 to strengthen the role of fathers in families.  This Resource Guide includes a selection of journal articles, a selected list of books and reports, and a selection of virtual sites that provide additional information on the Fatherhood Initiative and Male Involvement.  This resource is available on the Web at:
  http://www.headstartinfo.org/pdf/FatherhoodInitiative.pdf.  
  
  
• "Fathers as Facilitators of Infant Mental Health: Implications for Early Head Start" in ZERO TO THREE (August/September 2001), published by ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, reports on data from the National Evaluation of Early Head Start (NEEHS), which offers an opportunity to learn about a much more ethnically diverse and low-income sample of fathers than researchers have studied previously.  It notes that Behavioral Monitoring and Community Systems Networks interventions may support fathers as facilitators in their infants' and toddlers' mental health.   For additional information, contact ZERO TO THREE at 202-638-1144 or on the Web at: 
  http://www.zerotothree.org.
  
  
• Predictors of Father and Father-Figure Involvement in Pre-Kindergarten Head Start (December 1999), by Jay Fagan, National Center on Fathers and Families (NCOFF) examined predictors of paternal involvement in urban Head Start programs among 134 fathers and father figures with preschool-age children. Paternal involvement measures included teacher and father perceptions of participation, as well as amount of time as obtained from daily record sheets. The findings of the study indicated that characteristics of the child, father, family, and Head Start program predicted paternal involvement in Head Start. Fathers were more involved with their sons and with Head Start sites that provided programmatic support for male involvement. Involvement was also positively related to paternal nurturance and mother involvement in Head Start. The results also suggested that teachers were better judges than fathers of the amount of involvement in Head Start. This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://fatherfamilylink.gse.upenn.edu/org/ncoff/wrkppr/faganpaper.pdf.
  
  
• Measuring Father Involvement in the Early Head Start Evaluation: A Multidimensional Conceptualization (September 1999), published by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., briefly discusses different tools and approaches to measuring father involvement, talks about the specific measurement tools and methods used in the Father Studies of the Early Head Start (EHS) Evaluation Project, and highlights lessons from the field that have emerged as father involvement is measured in the ongoing EHS project.  It concludes by pointing out advances in the measurement of father involvement as well as the challenges yet to overcome.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/measurefather.pdf.

Father Involvement in the Care and Support of their Children:

• The Fatherhood, Marriage and Family Supports Advisory Group: Report and Recommendations (January 2004), presented to the Iowa General Assembly and Governor Thomas J. Vilsack by the Iowa Fatherhood, Marriage and Family Supports Advisory Group, Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS), describes the results of 25 focus groups in which Iowans were asked about their opinions on marriage, fatherhood, and family formation. Strategies were identified as examples of what can be done to impact families, fatherhood, and marriage with a focus on what is best for the children. This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.dhs.state.ia.us/fatherhood/docs/FMFSAGroup%20Final%20Report.pdf.
  
  
• Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study: Baseline Report (revised March 2003), by Sara McLanahan, Irwin Garfinkel, Nancy E. Reichman, Julien Teitler, Marcia Carlson, and Christina Norland Audigier, the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University, follows a new birth cohort of approximately 5,000 children and their parents in an effort to learn more about an important group of families in the United States: unmarried parents and their children.  They use the term fragile families to underscore the fact that unmarried parents and their children are families, and to emphasize that these families have a higher risk of poverty and family dissolution than traditional families.  This resource is available on the Web at:
  http://crcw.princeton.edu/fragilefamilies/nationalreport.pdf. 
  
  
• Expanding the Goals of "Responsible Fatherhood" Policy (December 2002), by Juliane Baron and Kathleen Sylvester, Social Policy Action Network (SPAN) and the National Practitioners' Network for Fathers and Families (NPNFF), examines the problems of low-income, noncustodial fathers at the local level.  They interviewed fathers and the front-line workers who try to help them to find out why these fathers don't get the help they need.  The paper includes findings from research in four U.S. cities: Austin; Columbus, OH; Minneapolis; and Philadelphia.  In addition to recommending Federal and State policy reforms, the paper identifies deeply rooted attitudinal and cultural barriers that prevent fathers from seeking help-and prevent social services agencies from serving fathers effectively.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.span-online.org/gender.pdf. 
  
  
• Promoting Responsible Fatherhood in California: Ideas and Options (November 2002) by Jacqueline Greer and Jonathan O'Connell, Social Policy Action Network (SPAN), offers an analysis of California's efforts to promote responsible fatherhood in a State where as many as 1.5 million children are growing up without their biological fathers at home.  Recommendations focus on four areas: reforming the child support system, connecting fathers to good jobs, helping fathers learn to be good parents, and reducing the negative effects of incarceration on families.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.span-online.org/CAfatherhood.pdf.  
  
  
• "Annotated Bibliography: Fatherhood" (August 2002), Research to Practice (R2P), by Child Welfare League of America, includes the following sections: a description of the project or program, location, number served, and purpose of the program; how the study was conducted, who was involved, what instruments were used, and the rates of and reasons for attrition; the findings; and an R2P evaluation.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.cwla.org/programs/r2p/bibliofa.pdf. 
  
  
• "Father Involvement" (Summer 2002) Best Practice: Next Practice, by the National Child Welfare Center for Family Centered Practice, includes 12 articles describing issues that relate to child welfare and father and male involvement.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.cwresource.org/Online%20publications/fatherInvolvement.pdf.
  
  
• Making Fathers Count: Assessing the Progress of Responsible Fatherhood Efforts (2002), by Kathleen Sylvester and Kathleen Reich, for the Social Policy Action Network (SPAN), provides an overview of father involvement efforts over the past quarter century, during which time policymakers began to recognize that the positive effects fathers' presence and involvement have on the lives of their children.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.span-online.org/fathers_count.pdf.
  
  
• "Addressing the Needs of Noncustodial Fathers" (June 2002), Resources For Welfare Decisions Vol. 6, No. 10, by Welfare Information Network (WIN), identifies recent publications and electronic information sources about programs that assist noncustodial fathers to meet their obligations to their children.  This resource is available on the Web at:
  http://www.welfareinfo.org/noncustodialfathersRN.htm.
  
  
• "Promoting Responsible Fatherhood: Some Promising Strategies" (March 2002), Policy Report, by Megan Burns, Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), looks at promoting responsible fatherhood by extending to fathers of poor children the same work obligation placed on women.   This would allow fathers to pay child support and also promote responsible fatherhood by involving fathers in their children's lives.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.ppionline.org/ndol/print.cfm?contentid=250290.
  
  
• "Assessing the Relationship between Welfare Policies and Changes in Living Arrangements of Low-Income Families and Children in the Late 1990s" (March 1, 2002) Discussion Papers, prepared by the Urban Institute, uses data from the 1997 and 1999 National Surveys of America's Families to examine the impact of State welfare policies and practices on the living arrangements of low-income families with children.  Results from a multivariate "difference-in-difference-in-differences" model suggest that more effective collection of child support and family cap policies are correlated with declines in single parenting and increases in dual parenting.  Other policies such as earned income tax credits, and welfare policies such as sanctions, two-parent welfare eligibility rules, and step-parent income deeming rules have no clear consistent association with living arrangements.  This resource is available on the Web at:
  http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/310444.pdf.
  
  
• Charting Parenthood: A Statistical Portrait of Fathers and Mothers in America (2002), published by Child Trends, offers data that include both men and women, fathers and mothers, for more than 40 indicators of parenting, fertility, and family formation.  The data also provide insights into the value men place on family life and childrearing, and on the multiple contributions that fathers can make to the lives of children.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://fatherhood.hhs.gov/charting02/index.htm.
  
  
• Handbook of Father Involvement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (2002), by Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda and Natasha Cabrera, published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc, brings together experts from diverse scientific disciplines who share an interest in the topic of father involvement. The Handbook merges theories and research from the unique fields of psychology, economics, demography sociology, anthropology, and social policy. At the core of the handbook are the goals of describing and understanding the nature, antecedents, and consequences of father involvement across biological status, family structure, culture, and stages in children's development-both within and across scientific boundaries.  Together, the chapters offer provocative and challenging insight into the nature and meaning of fatherhood and father involvement by questioning longstanding assumptions about fathers' roles in the lives of families and children in current history.  For additional information, contact Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. at 800-926-6579 or on the Web at: 
  http://www.erlbaum.com.  
  
  
• "Welfare Reform, Fertility, and Father Involvement" (Winter/Spring 2002), in The Future of Children: Children and Welfare Reform, Sara S. McLanahan and Marcia J. Carlson, published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, focuses on the important role that fathers play in children's lives and how public policies have affected childbearing and father involvement. Key observations include the following: compared with children living with both biological parents, children in father-absent families often have fewer economic and socioemotional resources from their parents, and do not fare as well on many outcome measures; efforts to reduce the rising number of father-absent families by focusing on preventing unwanted pregnancy among unmarried women, especially teen girls, have met with some success; those programs seeking to alter adolescents' life opportunities in addition to providing education or family planning services appear to hold the most promise; efforts to encourage greater father involvement by focusing almost exclusively on increasing absent parents' child support payments reap only minimal benefits for poor children because their absent parents often have few resources and little incentive to make support payments; and to date, efforts to increase the emotional involvement of unmarried fathers with their children have produced disappointing results, but new research suggests that such programs can make a difference when targeting fathers at the time of a child's birth.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.futureofchildren.org/usr_doc/tfoc12-1h.pdf.
  
  
• The Challenge of Helping Low-Income Fathers Support Their Children: Final Lessons from Parents' Fair Share (November 2001), by Cynthia Miller and Virginia Knoxby, published by Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC), synthesizes the key findings of Parents' Fair Share (PFS).  Launched in 1994 in seven sites, PFS was a national demonstration program that aimed to help low-income noncustodial fathers find more stable and better-paying jobs, pay child support on a consistent basis, and become more involved parents.  PFS provided employment and training services, peer support groups, voluntary mediation between parents, and modified child support enforcement.  The key findings were used to formulate several recommendations for the next generation of fatherhood programs.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.mdrc.org/Reports2001/PFS/PFSHelpingFathers.pdf.
  
  
• Fathers' Activities with Their Kids: Research Brief (June 2001), published by Child Trends, highlights data that indicate that fathers who live with their children are involved in their children's lives.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.childtrends.org/Files/June_2001.pdf.  
  
  
• The Fathering Indicators Framework: A Tool for Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis (March 2001), published by the National Center on Fathers and Families (NCOFF), is intended to provide a useful schematic summary of data sources, methods, and variables.  It provides information about the effects of a program on a father; the effects of a father's participation or change of behavior on a child or family; and the ways in which these effects-on fathers, children, and families-are threaded together to enable men to become positively involved with their children, the mothers of their children, and families in general.  It is designed specifically to be a tool that can be used by or adapted for different audiences: researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.ncoff.gse.upenn.edu/fif/FIF-report.pdf.
  
  
• Resources for Welfare Decisions: Funding Sources for Fatherhood Programs (January 2001), published by the Welfare Information Network (WIN), describes the available sources of funding for fatherhood programs and provides program examples and descriptions.  This resource is available online at: 
  http://www.welfareinfo.org/fatherhoodprogramsresource.htm.  
  
  
• Dispelling Myths About Unmarried Fathers (May 2000), Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, addresses three common myths about unwed fathers and their children: (1) unmarried births are the product of casual relationships; (2) unmarried fathers don't care about their children; and (3) unmarried fathers are dangerous, and mothers don't want them around.  Data are drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study.  Findings suggest that fatherhood programs can make a difference if they target the right men and if they are timed correctly.  Fathers' level of motivation has an important effect on whether the program will "work" or not.  New fathers who are romantically involved with the mothers are likely to be highly motivated and to take advantage of the services that fatherhood programs provide.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://crcw.princeton.edu/files/briefs/researchbrief1.pdf.
  
  
• "Fathers and Welfare Reform" (Spring 2000), Poverty Research News Vol. 4 No. 2, published by the Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research (JCPR), 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 initiatives, as well as chronicle the difficulties fathers face in sustaining a meaningful role in their children's lives.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.jcpr.org/newsletters/vol4_no2/index.html.
  
  
• How Do Social, Economic and Cultural Factors Influence Fathers' Involvement with their Children? (May 1999), by Child Trends, Inc., summarizes key research findings on the ways in which various factors influence father's involvement in their children's lives.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.childtrends.org/Files/dadinfluence.pdf.  
   
• The Meaning of Father Involvement for Children (May 1999), by Child Trends, Inc., summarizes key research findings on new ways of thinking about father involvement and the roles that fathers play in their children's lives.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.childtrends.org/Files/dadmeaning.pdf.  
   
• What Do Fathers Contribute to Children's Well-Being? (May 1999), by Child Trends, Inc., summarizes key research findings on the relationship between father involvement and child outcomes.   This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.childtrends.org/Files/dadchild.pdf. 
    
• "Social Fatherhood and Paternal Involvement: Conceptual, Data, and Policymaking Issues" in Nurturing Fatherhood: Improving Data and Research on Male Fertility, Family Formation, and Fatherhood (June 1998), a report sponsored by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), describes some of the issues around defining, measuring, and making policy about fathers.  This document is available on the Web at: 
  http://fatherhood.hhs.gov/CFSForum/c4.htm.
  
  
• My Daddy Takes Care of Me! Fathers as Care Providers (1997), produced by the Census Bureau, looks at fathers caring for their children during mothers' working hours and examines which types of fathers are the most likely to take care of their children.  This resource is available on the Web at: 
  http://www.census.gov/prod/3/97pubs/p70-59.pdf. 
  

Note: Robert C. Kuhmann and "www-dot-KUHMANN-dot-Com" does not necessarily endorse any of the above organizations, publications, or resources.  Updated 10 May 2004.

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