Fatherhood Research & Practice Network

Upcoming Webinar:
Two Generation Strategies to Engage and Serve Low-Income Fathers

On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 12:00 p.m. EST, the Fatherhood Research & Practice Network (FRPN) will host our ninth learning community webinar.

This webinar will present new approaches to engaging low-income fathers to improve their parenting skills and/or relationships with their children. Three programs working to get fathers and their children involved in interactive activities that are also embedded with parenting information and feedback will be highlighted. Preliminary research findings for all three approaches are promising. Each program is being scaled up and adapted to new settings and populations. The featured programs and researchers include:

Just Beginning (aka “Baby Elmo”): Rachel Barr, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Georgetown University and Terry Harrak, Just Beginning Program Manager, Youth Law Center, San Francisco
The Fathers and Sons Program: Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, Ph.D. Professor of Health, Behavior and Health Education and Director, Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health, University of Michigan
The Coaching Our Acting-Out Children Program: Heightening Essential Skills (COACHES) Program: Gregory Fabiano, Ph.D., Professor of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology, University at Buffalo

FRPN Grantee Spotlight

Research assistant, Katie McCallister, Dr. Cryer-Coupet and research assistant, Casey Mackey.

Qiana Cryer-Coupet, Ph.D., North Carolina State University, Department of Social Work, is conducting an assessment funded by the FRPN on the needs of fathers in kinship care as well as the experiences of fatherhood practitioners that serve this population. The mixed-methods study includes qualitative interviews with 25 fathers and 12 fatherhood practitioners and online surveys with child welfare workers who have completed training on engaging nonresident fathers.

Why and how did you get involved with doing research on fathers whose children live with relatives in “kinship care” arrangements?

During the first year of my social work program at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, I was assigned to a field placement at Grandparent Family Connections. There I worked with several grandmothers who were raising their grandchildren in informal kinship care. I found that fathers were present to various degrees in the lives of those families.

However, when I searched the literature to find best practices for engaging “fathers of children living in kinship care”, Google always referenced, “Did you mean: mothers of children living in kinship care?” instead. So, I guess you could say, Google identified a gap and I’ve been working to address it ever since.

Why should fatherhood practitioners care about fathers whose children are in informal kinship care arrangements?

Many families engaged in informal kinship care do not have access to the same level of resources and support as those that are connected to the child welfare system. They don’t have access to family team meetings where caregivers and biological parents can work with case managers to discuss issues related to coparenting, parenting support for biological parents and potential reunification. Although they are not the primary caregivers, fathers are an important part of the family unit. They can be a vital resource to their children and relative caregivers if they are able to access resources to support them.

What do you hope to learn through the FRPN grant?

We don't know much about the characteristics of fathers with children living in informal kinship care. Nor do we know much about fathers’ perceptions of the situations that have led their children to relative care and how coparenting relationships function in the context of these arrangements. Through this project, I hope to begin to explore these issues and determine how fatherhood programs can better address the needs of fathers with children in kinship care.

FRPN Highlights

FRPN Co-Director Jay Fagan, PhD | Professor, Temple University School of Social Work

© 2017 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.