Fatherhood Research & Practice Network

November Webinar — A Conversation About State–Level Initiatives for Father Inclusion

Tuesday, November 5, 2019
2-3:30 PM ET
Grantee States: Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington and Wyoming

In January 2019, the Fatherhood Research & Practice Network (FRPN) awarded $10,000 planning grants to 11 states to develop or enhance existing state-level initiatives on father inclusion. This webinar will feature a conversation with directors of some of these initiatives about the progress of their projects. Using a question and answer format, they will identify what they've tried, key lessons learned, and what they plan to do next in their efforts to engage fathers in state programs, policies and legislation dealing with children and families.

Discussion topics will include: creating a fatherhood council or commission, pursuing TANF funding and/or a legislative appropriation, conducting a Fatherhood Summit, cultivating state agency partners and supporters at all levels of government, and measuring father engagement, available services and areas of unmet need.

New FRPN–Funded Report Published

The FRPN made an invited small award to Lenna Nepomnyaschy of Rutgers University to conduct the study, State Policies and Employment Outcomes among Fathers with Criminal Records. Nepomnyaschy and her colleagues investigate how policies regulating the information employers can legally consider and the availability of official criminal record information shape the employment of fathers with criminal records.

The researchers used newly collected data on policies across the U.S. over time linked with nine years of longitudinal survey data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. They found that in states with more protective regulations regarding whether criminal records can legally be considered in hiring and licensing decisions, black fathers are less likely to be employed. This finding is consistent with prior research which indicates that policies regulating the use of criminal records can harm the employment of black men, either because employers are intentionally using race as a proxy for criminal records or because employers default to racial stereotypes about criminality in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

Download this report to learn more about the findings of this study.

FRPN Project Team Publishes New Paper in Family Relations

Fagan, J., Pearson, J., & Kaufman, R. (2019). A Descriptive Study of Low‐Income Never‐Married Fathers' Coparenting With Mothers and Relatives. Advanced online publication.
https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12384

In this study of 487 never‐married, low‐income fathers who had at least one child with whom they did not reside, researchers found that fathers did not coparent with all of their children's mothers, and they reported having more coparenting relatives than coparenting mothers. Fathers' coparenting contact and cooperation with relatives was more common among African American and Hispanic fathers than non‐Hispanic White fathers. Fathers who reported no coparenting mothers had more biological children than fathers with one coparenting partner, and their interpersonal and financial challenges were associated with less coparenting involvement.

FRPN Co-Director Jay Fagan, PhD | Professor, Temple University School of Social Work
FRPN Co-Director Jessica Pearson, PhD | Director, Center for Policy Research

© 2019 Fatherhood Research & Practice Network. All rights reserved
The Fatherhood Research and Practice Network is supported by grant #90PR0006 from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents are solely the responsibility of the Fatherhood Research and Practice Network, Temple University and the Center for Policy Research and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, the Administration for Children and Families or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.