This Administration for Children and Families blogpost, authored by the Senior Advisor of the Office of Child Support Enforcement, presents key highlights of the Fatherhood Summit that occurred in June 2019. Many Summit presentations noted that unemployed or underemployed fathers are unable to make their child support payments, which might lead to debt and other challenges, which makes it difficult for fathers to become economically self-sufficient. The blogpost also notes that some presentations identified resources through responsible fatherhood programs to help noncustodial fathers become fully engaged in their children’s lives.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation issue brief covers ongoing Administration for Children and Families (ACF) research and evaluation projects regarding the Responsible Fatherhood grant program, noncustodial parents, and fathers and fatherhood in general. The brief also discusses prior ACF research and evaluation projects on fatherhood.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a joint Information Memorandum to all ACF programs emphasizing the importance of meaningful father involvement to better serve children and families. In particular, this memorandum highlights research findings that demonstrate the value of fathers’ involvement in the lives of their children and families, as well as identifies promising practices to promote and sustain fathers’ engagement, regardless of their physical location or extent of custodial participation.

This Administration for Children and Families fact sheet identifies the positive outcomes reported as a result of fathers involved in raising their children. It also outlines activities that the agency’s Fatherhood FIRE grants address, including supporting healthy marriage and responsible parenting, as well as increasing employment and economic mobility opportunities.

This Mathematica study, conducted on behalf of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, examines the impact of four federally-funded Responsible Fatherhood programs: Connections to Success in Kansas and Missouri; Fathers’ Support Center in Missouri; FATHER Project at Goodwill–Easter Seals Minnesota; and Urban Ventures in Minnesota.

This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse data set provides statistics covering the employment rate, employment status, and earnings of fathers with children up to 17 years old; data patterns for households with at least one employed parent; working arrangements of couples with children; information relative to higher earners in two-parent households; time spent by fathers on child care, housework, and paid work; reasons that stay-at-home fathers are not in the workforce; and the division of labor among parents who work full-time.

This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse data set analyzes statistics on resident and non-resident fathers’ level of involvement, including taking their children on outings or errands, or to activities; eating with their children; reading and playing with their children; engaging in physical affection, praise, or discipline; and participating in age-appropriate caregiving activities. There is also analysis of financial contribution levels and the extent made by non-resident fathers, as well as frequency and satisfaction of child visitations conducted by non-resident fathers.

This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse data set offers statistics on the living arrangements and characteristics of fathers, ages 15-44, including where the fathers live (relative to their children), as well as their race/ethnicity, education level, relationship/marital status, and demographic profile. This snapshot also illustrates the living arrangements of children by the marital/relationship status of parents, living arrangements of children by poverty level, and the percentage of children living in households headed by a grandparent.

This brief describes the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation’s Parents and Children Together evaluation, which studied impacts of four Responsible Fatherhood-funded programs. The impacts pertained to the participant fathers’ parenting, relationships, economic stability, and well-being after one year of enrollment in the program.

Noncustodial parents (NCPs) want to be positively involved in their children’s lives but often face obstacles, including legal issues and inability to attain economic security and to pay child support consistently. In a recent Information Memorandum, the Administration for Children and Families reminded jurisdictions of their ability to use TANF funds to provide employment services to noncustodial parents to help needy families provide for their children and rise out of poverty.

An Office of Family Assistance (OFA)-sponsored webinar on June 26, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET will feature a panel of programs using TANF funds to serve NCPs: the Ohio Fatherhood Commission, South Carolina Department of Fathers and Families, which fund community programs for fathers and families and advocate for “father-friendly” policies and practices in state agencies, and Fathers Support Center of St. Louis, which will share its experiences of directly engaging fathers to improve family and economic security. A presenter from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement will also talk about programs for fathers and NCPs who have alternate funding sources. These programs and agencies participated in a scan to identify promising approaches to using TANF funds to serve noncustodial parents. The scan is being conducted by ASPIRE (Assisting Special Populations to Improve Readiness and Engagement), an OFA-sponsored project; an ASPIRE representative will share project highlights and moderate the panel.