The goals of the FRPN are to:

1. Conduct, promote, and disseminate research on the evaluation of fatherhood programs and the effects of various policies on positive father engagement with their children by highlighting recent publications on the FRPN website.
2. Expand the number of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers collaborating to promote positive father engagement in the lives of their children by conducting and publicizing relevant in-person and virtual trainings.
3. Promote the inclusion of fathers in state-level programs and policies dealing with children and families by monitoring and highlighting relevant policy developments in multiple areas of public life.

The FRPN was founded and funded from 2013-2019 through a grant by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. During that time, the FRPN funded 20 evaluations of programs that aimed to increase father engagement and pilot projects to support father inclusion in family policies and programs in 11 states.

The project is currently led by Jessica Pearson, Ph.D., director of the Center for Policy Research (CPR) in Denver, Colorado. CPR is a nonprofit research and evaluation firm established in 1981 to improve the lives of children and their families. The FRPN also includes a steering committee consisting of leading national fatherhood researchers and practitioners who help guide the direction of this project. Dr. Jay Fagan, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Work at Temple University, co-founded and co-directed the FRPN with Jessica Pearson from 2013-2020.

Why is the FRPN needed?

1. There is a large and growing body of research on how fathers positively influence child development and well-being, but there is:

• Limited knowledge about which interventions are most effective with low-income, non-resident fathers and under-studied populations.
• Limited evidence about how these interventions affect fathers, children and families.
• A lack of rigorous research about effective interventions with low-income fathers facing additional challenges.

2. While nearly every state has community-based and/or public programs to support fathers, there are:

• Limited numbers of states with multi-agency initiatives or commissions that aim to include fathers in programs and policies dealing with children and families.
• Limited number of states that use public funds such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to support fatherhood programs.
• Limited number of state systems that improve service delivery for children and families by tracking father engagement and/or overcoming barriers that exclude fathers.

3. There is need for improvement in the areas of:

• Disseminating information on fatherhood in formats of greatest use to specific audiences.
• Building capacity in the fatherhood field to support and conduct well designed, scientifically valid evaluation studies among researchers and practitioners.
• Providing technical assistance and guidance to state leaders and advocates trying to implement policies and programs that support the inclusion of fathers. 
   

Read the latest FRPN publications.