4 Your Child is a responsible fatherhood program based in Louisville, KY that seeks to integrate the provision of responsible parenting, economic stability, and relationship education services to fathers at risk for paternal disengagement. University of Louisville researchers received funding from the FRPN to recruit the coparenting partners of 4 Your Child participants into a brief intervention featuring an educational workshop and an opportunity to receive free mediation services.

Primary outcomes included mothers’ report of conflict-resolution skills, fathers’ involvement with their children, and coparenting relationship quality. The results of this study showed that mothers who participated in the brief intervention reported better conflict-resolution skills and coparenting relationship than mothers in the control group. Based on the quantitative and qualitative results, several recommendations are provided to practitioners and researchers interested in engaging mothers in fatherhood and coparenting, including using recruitment messaging that is likely to resonate with custodial mothers, intervening early before coparenting challenges become solidified and coparenting outlooks become pessimistic, and emphasizing the role of empathy as an area of importance to coparenting.

The full report is available for download at the link below. Download the summary report here or the executive summary.