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Resources
- Children’s Bureau Express: Father Engagement
This issue of Children’s Bureau Express spotlights “Engaging Fathers” and the importance of fathers and paternal relatives in the lives of children involved with the child welfare system. Highlighted articles focus on federally funded efforts to study and promote father involvement, as well as promising practices from the field. Children's Bureau Express is designed for professionals concerned with child abuse and neglect, child welfare, and adoption. Children's Bureau Express is supported by the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and published by Child Welfare Information Gateway. (June 2010)
- Rise Magazine: Fathers’ Rights and Roles
Children do better when their fathers are involved in raising them, yet child welfare systems have been slow to include fathers in family support services or case planning. It can be difficult for fathers with children in care to access legal representation and appropriate services. In this issue of Rise Magazine, parents write about the steps fathers can take to protect and support their children. Rise magazine is written by and for parents involved in the child welfare system. Its mission is to help parents advocate for themselves and their children. (Spring 2009)
- Father Friendly Checkup for Child Welfare Agencies and Organizations
The “Father Friendly Checkup for Child Welfare Agencies and Organizations” by The National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System, National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI), American Humane Association, and American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, was developed to help organizations assess how well they welcome and encourage fathers in several areas. (2008)
- The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children
From the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this guide is for child welfare workers to help fathers have a positive impact on their children's lives. It is the first guide for professionals that focuses specifically on how they can more effectively engage fathers whose children come to the attention of the child welfare system. (2006)
- Fathers and Their Families: The Untapped Resource for Children Involved in the Child Welfare System
Historically, non-custodial fathers have been disengaged from the child welfare system. The advent of ASFA and recent Federal initiatives focused on fatherhood, however, have resulted in new efforts on the part of the child welfare system to encourage the involvement of fathers and other paternal relatives. American Humane focused on fathers and their families in the September 2003 issue of Child Protection Leader.
- Getting Noncustodial Dads Involved in the Lives of Foster Children
Many foster children are living apart from their fathers at the time they are removed from their homes. Once removed, these children experience even less contact with their noncustodial fathers. The dearth of fathers in the lives of foster children is of mounting concern as efforts to expedite permanent homes for these children intensify and there is greater recognition of fathers' contributions to family stability and children's healthy development. This policy brief from the Urban Institute looks at the extent to which fathers are involved in the lives of their children in foster care and ways to increase their involvement. (November 2003)
- Fatherhood Lessons
This practical toolkit from the National Latino Fatherhood and Family Institute offers guidelines and interventions to consider when constructing culturally relevant fatherhood programs. (2003)
- Marriage and Fatherhood, and Their Impact on Poverty
From "Focus," a newsletter from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Institute for Research on Poverty. The purpose of "Focus" is to provide coverage of poverty-related research, events, and issues, and to acquaint a large audience with the work of the Institute for Research on Poverty by means of short essays on selected pieces of research. The Summer 2002 issue contains six articles on marriage and fatherhood.
- Meeting CFSR Standards Guide (Father Involvement)
The benefits of father involvement in the lives of children have been well-established. However, child welfare agencies continue to struggle with implementing father involvement policies and practice. All states are required to participate in the federal Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) that measure outcomes in child welfare agencies. While there is no specific measure for father involvement, there are four relevant proxies under a Child Well-Being Outcome. The National Family Preservation Network (NPFN) has developed this guide to help child welfare agencies to improve their practice and outcomes on father involvement.
Resources for Fathers
- Finding Your Way: Guides for Fathers in Child Protection Cases
This guide from American Bar Association and American Humane Association can help fathers prepare for court hearings or meetings. It provides general information, not legal advice. Case-specific or legal questions should be directed to a lawyer or caseworker. Access the full guide at the link above, or click below to download specific sections of the guide. (2011)
Resources for Attorneys, Judges, and CASA Volunteers
- Engaging Fathers in Child Protection Cases by Understanding Male Help-Seeking and Learning Styles
Judicial officers can help better engage fathers by understanding how men seek help and learn differently from women. They can also encourage the child welfare agency to work with fathers as often as mothers, offer services geared toward men’s learning styles, and work as hard to find and engage fathers as mothers. This judicial bench card from the National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System provides suggestions and information to support judicial offers in these efforts. (2011)
- Checklists for Lawyers and Judges on Representing and Engaging Non-Resident Fathers in Child Welfare Court Cases
National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System has prepared a number of checklists for advocating for nonresident fathers in child welfare court cases (2009):
- Engaging Nonresident Fathers in Child Welfare Cases: A Guide for Court Appointed Special Advocates
This practice brief was produced by the National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System (QIC NRF). It offers CASA volunteers a new tool to advocate on behalf of children –- reaching out to their fathers. It provides tips on identifying and locating the fathers of children who enter the child welfare system and helps CASA volunteers assess fathers’ capacities to be a placement or other resource for their children. CASA volunteers will learn how to involve paternal relatives in case planning and recognize how fathers learn and seek help differently than do mothers.
Research, Studies, and Reports
- Identifying, Interviewing, and Intervening: Fathers and the Illinois Child Welfare System
In this Chapin Hall study, researchers examine the extent to which fathers--stepfathers, putative fathers, legal fathers, adoptive fathers, or biological fathers--were interviewed as a part of the Illinois Integrated Assessment (IA) process and the factors associated with fathers being interviewed. The information in the IA reports provides rich descriptions of the complex circumstances and family roles of fathers. Findings from the study suggest the importance of engaging fathers early in the assessment process; however, sustaining that engagement through services and interventions warrants further attention. (2009)
- Elements of Promising Practice in Programs Serving Fathers Involved in the Criminal Justice System
Between 1991 and 1999, the percentage of children with an incarcerated father increased by 58 percent. There is more interest in developing programs that specifically address the needs of fathers in the criminal justice system. A National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse brief authored by Child Trends, "What Works" in Programs Serving Fathers Involved in the Criminal Justice System? Lessons from Evidence-Based Evaluations, identifies eight common features of "model" programs for fathers involved in the criminal justice system. (August 2008)
- Ten Key Findings from Responsible Fatherhood Initiatives
This brief from the Urban Institute provides ten key lessons from several important early responsible fatherhood initiatives that were developed and implemented during the 1990s and early 2000s. Formal evaluations of these earlier fatherhood efforts have been completed making this an opportune time to step back and assess what has been learned and how to build on the early programs' successes and challenges. (February 2008)
- What About the Dads? Child Welfare Agencies' Efforts to Identify, Locate, and Involve Nonresident Fathers
This study describes the extent to which child welfare agencies identify, locate, and involve nonresident fathers in case decision making and permanency. It looks at policies and practices for involving nonresident fathers of foster children in casework and permanency planning; various methods used by local agencies to identify fathers of children in foster care, establish paternity, and locate nonresident fathers; challenges to involvement, including characteristics and circumstances that may be constraints and worker opinions of nonresident fathers; practices and initiatives that may increase father involvement; and how child support agencies' information resources may assist child welfare agencies to identify and locate nonresident fathers. (April 2006)
- More About the Dads
This study from the Urban Institute follows up the one listed above. It finds that having an involved father is associated with shorter case length and a greater likelihood of reunification, though it is only modestly related to subsequent allegations of maltreatment. (March 2008)
- Inside the Research: Fathers and Family Reunification
Chapin Hall's implementation study of the Integrated Assessment (IA) program in Illinois showed that when both parents participated in the IA interviews, more children are eventually able to return home to their parents. More specifically, when both parents were interviewed, the likelihood of family reunification was 3.2 times greater than when neither parent was interviewed. Furthermore, when only one parent was interviewed, the likelihood of reunification was 2.4 times greater than when neither parent was interviewed.
Resources from the States
- North Carolina
Father Involvement in Child Welfare
The December 2005 issue of "Children's Services Practice Notes" examines ways that practitioners and their agencies can improve the way they work with fathers. Practice Notes is sponsored by the N.C. Division of Social Services and produced by the Family and Children's Resource Program, part of the Jordan Institute for Families at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work. (December 2005)
Curriculums
- Engaging Absent Fathers
This online curriculum is available from the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program. It includes pre-work resources, curriculum, handouts, overheads, and videos.
- Advocating for Non-Resident Fathers in Child Welfare Court Cases Curriculum
Lawyers representing non-resident fathers face a range of complex legal and factual challenges. This 2009 curriculum by the National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System at American Bar Association was designed to provide guidance to lawyers on how to navigate issues affecting fathers and their children involved in child welfare proceedings. It provides practical strategies to parents’ attorneys who represent non-resident fathers who are often not the perpetrator of abuse or neglect. It is based upon a series of articles commissioned by the QIC NRF and that appear in the book "Advocating for Fathers in Child Welfare Court Cases." (2009)
- Working with African American Fathers: The Forgotten Parent (Trainer Guide and Trainee Guide)
The goals of this curriculum are to provide an experiential learning event on the historical relevance and current impacts of slavery on African-American fathers; to develop an awareness of biases against African-American fathers by Child Welfare social workers and their agencies; to present solutions to the systemic biases against African-American fathers within Child Welfare; and to value the application of principles of Fairness and Equity and associated skills and strategies in working with other culturally diverse families within child welfare systems. (November 2009)
Bibliography
NRCPFC Information Packet
PowerPoint Presentation
Teleconferences, Webcasts, and Web-Conferences
- Engaging Fathers in Child Welfare
Engaging fathers was selected as the topic for this NRCPFC teleconference because, according to the CFSR, across the nation, child welfare agencies still struggle with locating fathers and engaging and involving them in their children’s lives and in the case planning process. Fathers play unique and important roles in their children’s lives; therefore, maintaining contact and strengthening the father-child bond should be a priority. The objectives of this session were: To introduce ways to use the “voice of fathers” within the child welfare system to understand their experiences, needs, and desire to be part of their children’s lives; To provide tools to assess the child welfare agency’s readiness to engage non-custodial fathers in participating in team meetings, case planning, accessing services, and reunification; To provide new tools for assessing worker bias regarding working with non-custodial fathers. The audio recording of the teleconference, PowerPoint Presentation, handouts, and additional resources are available online. (July 2011)
- Engaging Fathers in Child Welfare Web Conference
On February 25, 2011, The Public Child Welfare Training Academy (PCWTA), a project of the Academy for Professional Excellence and San Diego State University, presented a 90-minute web conference on Engaging Fathers in Child Welfare. The web conference featured Mr. Randy A. Jenkins, MSW, a national expert on Engaging Fathers in Child Welfare and Consultant to the NRCPFC, and Father Panelists Jeffrey Mays and Gerald Howard. The training focused on the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC) values and goals of father engagement; father engagement and assessment; stories of non-custodial fathers in the child welfare system; discussion of the results of a group study of social workers who have engaged fathers; and discussion of focus group results of fathers who have been engaged by social workers. (2011)
- Bringing Back the Dads: Father Engagement
Father involvement is critical to providing positive outcomes of safety, permanency, and well being for their children in the child welfare system. This NRCPFC teleconference, recorded on March 10, 2010, informs best practices related to the engagement of fathers and the paternal family in the public child welfare system. Presenters shared research and practice experiences, and discussed non-resident fathers and the legal system; fathers also shared their personal experiences with the child welfare system. You can listen to the audio of the teleconference, and access handouts including the agenda and presenters’ contact information, a bibliography, a PowerPoint presentation, and many other relevant materials. (March 2010)
Websites
- National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System
The purpose of this project is to determine, through a research design, the impact of non-resident father involvement on child welfare outcomes. Child welfare outcomes include child safety, permanence and well-being. Included in this design is the examination of the relationship between child and non-resident fathers or paternal relatives. Throughout the five years of this project, information gained from the QIC-NRF will be disseminated to the Children’s Bureau, sub-grantees, child welfare agencies, private service providers, the courts and legal systems, and other stakeholders.
- National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse
The NRFC supports the Administration for Children and Families' Office of Family Assistance's efforts to assist States and communities to promote and support Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Marriage. Primarily a tool for professionals operating Responsible Fatherhood programs, the NRFC provides access to print and electronic publications, timely information on fatherhood issues, and targeted resources that support OFA-funded Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Marriage grantees. The NRFC Web site also provides essential information for other audiences interested in fatherhood issues.
- US Department of Health and Human Services, Promoting Responsible Fatherhood
The Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Initiative's purpose is to promote responsible fatherhood by funding programs that support healthy marriage activities, promote responsible parenting, and foster economic stability. The initiative will enable fathers to improve their relationships and reconnect with their children. It will help fathers overcome obstacles and barriers that often prevent them from being the most effective and nurturing parent possible. While the primary goal of the initiative is to promote fatherhood in all of its various forms, an essential point is to encourage fatherhood within the context of marriage. On the website, there are resources on: Effective Parenting, Economic Stability, Access, Visitation, Paternity, & Child Support; Incarceration; Research, Evaluation, & Data; Program Development; and other topics.
- National Fatherhood Initiative
Founded in 1994, NFI seeks to lead a society-wide movement to confront the problem of father absence. Their mission is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers.
- Center for Family Policy and Practice
CFFPP is a nationally-focused public policy organization conducting policy research, technical assistance, training, litigation and public education in order to focus attention on the barriers faced by never-married, low-income fathers and their families.
- National Center on Fathers and Families (NCOFF)
NCOFF was established in 1994 at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania with core support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. An interdisciplinary policy research center, NCOFF is dedicated to research and practice that expands the knowledge base on father involvement and family development, and that informs policy designed to improve the well-being of children.
- The National Latino Fatherhood and Family Institute
The National Latino Fatherhood and Family Institute brings together nationally recognized leaders in the fields of Latino health, education, social services, and community outreach. Their mission is to build upon Latino cultural strengths and traditions and offer a path for men of all ages to become Un Hombre Noble, or a Noble man.
- Center for Urban Families
Center for Urban Families (CFUF) utilizes an integrated approach to connecting men and women to career paths and strong family models. Central to CFUF’s mission is the belief that men—the most disconnected and underserved citizens in urban communities—who connect with women, their children, and the workplace are key to the restoration of stability and optimism. CFUF Family & Fatherhood Programs include Couples Advancing Together and Baltimore Responsible Fatherhood Project.
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