This report examines the child support system with relation to low-income fathers. By improving service delivery and up front case management, father child support can be increased, which can affect outcomes for children. Additionally, this resource offers best practices from around the country to increase fatherhood engagement for child support.

This newsletter, from the North Carolina Department of Social Services and the Family and Children's Resource program, gives guidance on best practices to serving families. The article focuses on fatherhood involvement in child welfare and strategies for improving engagement among fathers.

The Urban Institute, with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, conducted the Study of Fathers' Involvement in Permanency Planning and Child Welfare Casework. This study reviewed the extent to which child welfare agencies identify, locate, and involve nonresident fathers in case planning. This paper reviews the results of the study on the steps that child welfare agencies take with engaging nonresidential fathers,; possible barriers, and the policies that affect involvement.

Besides acting as a critical health problem, teen pregnancy is tied to a variety of other social issues, including welfare dependence, overall child well-being, out-of-wedlock births, fatherhood, and workforce development. Over half of all teen mothers go on welfare within five years after the birth of their first child. This resource discusses the importance of preventing teen pregnancy as it relates to these issues and the well-being of children.

The Brookings Institution released a paper that evaluates the well-being of single mother families. This policy brief uses consumption data on single mother families in the 1990s, which shows that consumption in housing costs, child care, food, and transportation increased for this group of women. Therefore, post-welfare reform, the material circumstance of single-mothers increased, seemingly because more mothers are employed.

The National Healthy Marriage Academy, held January 8 and 9, 2003,  in Arlington, VA, provided an opportunity for representatives from several States to learn more about the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Healthy Marriage Initiative. The Academy afforded States an opportunity to hear presentations from nationally recognized speakers, researchers, and Federal policy makers, as well as from other States with successful Healthy Marriage Initiatives.

In light of welfare reform, HHS has devoted funds to the Healthy Marriage Initiative. Because of the debate surrounding marriage education, this article seeks to answer what exactly is marriage education and if it is working. Marriage is seen to strengthen families, reduced poverty, and improve child wellbeing.

This article from the Urban Institute provides information on the status of housing from prisoners returning to society. While some are able to reside with family members, housing can pose a significant barrier for others. This article reviews the barriers facing ex-offenders and housing, and offers promising housing services available.

Posted on the Department of Justice (DOJ) Web site, this report describes the Fortune Academy Residence and Service model for housing ex-offenders that could be implemented by the agency and replicated by other organizations across the country. The model features emergency and longer-term housing and includes a broad range of supportive services designed to stabilize the residents and assist them in building skills and attitudes to enable them to transition successfully from incarceration to the community.

This brief looks at child welfare agencies' reliance on kin, that is, relatives, to care for children who may otherwise need to be in state custody. In most states, these agencies use voluntary kinship arrangements on a fairly limited basis when caseworkers believe that children face low risk of abuse or neglect. Agencies are confronted by many challenges, including whether to remain involved with a family and how to provide assistance to them.