Engaging and involving fathers and other paternal family members is a crucial component of family engagement. Child welfare agencies, however, may have difficulty connecting with and engaging noncustodial fathers and paternal family members. Child welfare agencies should focus on creating greater opportunities to partner with fathers throughout their involvement with the child welfare system so that they may maintain their connections with their children and help establish permanency through reunification. The following resources address the engagement of fathers and paternal family members.
Encouraging Attendance and Engagement in Parenting Programs: Developing a Smartphone Application With Fathers, for Fathers
Balu, Lee, & Steimle (2018)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation
Describes the development of a smartphone app for fathers to help boost participation and address the challenges they face with parenting program attendance.
Engaging and Supporting Native Fathers (PDF - 171 KB)
Capacity Building Center for Tribes (2016)
Provides links to selected articles and resources that focus on engaging and supporting Native fathers.
Engaging Fathers
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Head Start Bureau
Provides information and resources to enhance father engagement efforts, including wall posters to create father-friendly environments and a webinar on supporting fathers with the help of communities.
Engaging Fathers and Paternal Relatives: A Continuous Quality Improvement Approach in the Child Welfare System, 2017 - 2023
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation
Presents information about a project to improve strategies and interventions to better engage fathers in the child welfare system.
Father Engagement and Father Involvement Toolkit
The California Social Work Education Center
Provides a fatherhood engagement toolkit for communities and local organizations that includes engagement and communication tools, assessments, trainings, policies and procedures, and evaluation tools.
The Father Factor: How to Effectively Serve Dads Involved in Child Welfare
Brown (2017)
National Fatherhood Initiative
Provides resources to help agencies increase the involvement of young fathers in the lives of their children, particularly when these fathers are involved in the child welfare system. The resources touch on topics such as protective factors, coparenting, intimate partner violence, and more.
A Father's Impact on Child Development
Children's Bureau, Inc. (2018)
Examines the specific impacts of father engagement on childhood development and lists 10 important facts related to fatherhood and children. The resource also describes the negative effects of father absence.
How Can Fathers and Other Constituent Leaders Inform Family First and Other System Change Efforts?
Casey Family Programs (2019)
Describes the importance of involving parents, especially fathers, in designing the child welfare system.
How Can We Better Engage Fathers in Prevention?
Casey Family Programs (2019)
Describes the essential role that fathers play in children’s lives and the benefits of having an involved father. The webpage also offers strategies and resources that support fatherhood initiatives and interventions in child welfare, including those related to the prevention of child abuse and neglect.
How to Effectively Serve Dads Involved in Child Welfare
Brown (2017)
National Fatherhood Initiative®
Provides resources to help agencies increase the involvement of young fathers in the lives of their children, particularly when these fathers are involved in the child welfare system. The resources touch on topics such as protective factors, coparenting, intimate partner violence, and more.
Promoting Responsible Fatherhood
Parents as Teachers®
Provides strategies to encourage absent fathers' renewed involvement in their children's lives. The toolkit includes strategies for service providers to improve their practice with fathers and assess agency performance.
Resources for Serving Young Fathers (PDF - 1,584 KB)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of Adolescent Health (2016)
Provides a comprehensive approach for working with young fathers. The toolkit includes a factsheet describing the benefits of positive involvement with children, an assessment and checklist to help make programs more young-father friendly, a workbook with interactive activities to explore fathers' unique challenges and potential, and tips and strategies to recruit and retain young fathers.
A Seat at the Table: Piloting Continuous Learning to Engage Fathers and Paternal Relatives in Child Welfare
Fung, Nickie, Bellamy, Abendroth, Mittone, Bess, & Stagner (2021)
Explore this report, which shares findings from a pilot study exploring the implementation of a Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) for increasing father and paternal relative engagement in child welfare in order to improve placement stability and permanency outcomes for children.
Supporting Fathers and Strengthening Families
Child & Family Research Partnership (2017)
Explains the importance of father involvement for child well-being and development and increasing protective factors in families. The report also discusses disproportionately regarding fathers and father figures being implicated in child maltreatment.