Latino and African American Non-Custodial Fathers

Abstract

This study examines the perspectives of 30 Latino (n = 17) and African American (n = 13) low-income non-custodial fathers regarding their role as fathers and the child support system. Using an ethnographic approach, these non-custodial fathers (NCFs) were asked about their own childhood and background, their relationship with their own fathers, their relationship with their non-custodial child(ren), and their views of the child support system. The cultural portrait that emerges is one of a group of fathers who express a strong desire to be positive role models to their children and to play a significant role in their lives. Notwithstanding their negative feelings toward the child support enforcement system, they need to increase their knowledge regarding the process in order to clarify both their responsibilities and their rights. Implications for social work policy and research are included.     

Diversity in flowering plants and their characteristics: integrating humans as a driver of urban floral resources

Urban neighborhoods vary in development intensity and in the life style and demographics of their residents. Decisions made by urban residents affect plant communities, their functional characteristics, and the floral resources they provide. We recorded flowers in front-facing yards in 58 neighborhoods in Chicago, IL (USA) and examined patterns in community composition and species turnover between neighborhoods. We investigated how species richness and plant characteristics, including origin, cultivation intent, and life cycle, are affected by neighborhood socioeconomic factors. Urban plant species tended to be perennial, ornamental, and non-native. White clover had the broadest distribution and the highest floral abundance but was not present in several of the highest-income neighborhoods. Although we found 144 morpho-species across neighborhoods, most occurred infrequently. Species turnover was highest for ornamental species and lowest for weedy species, suggesting that intentional plantings are driving beta diversity across the landscape. We found the highest species richness in neighborhoods with intermediate numbers of Hispanic and white residents and with intermediate number of residential lots; neighborhoods with racially or ethnically homogenous populations had fewer plant species. The high frequency of weeds in low-income neighborhoods, the occurrence of certain ornamental plant species in whiter, wealthier communities, and high turnover of species from one neighborhood to another, all suggest a disparity in plant-related ecosystem services across cities. Complexity in urban plantings may be influenced by the suite of perspectives that residents bring towards habitat management. Cultivation sustains a diversity of plants and creates a disparity in plant traits by neighborhood socioeconomics.     

Fathers and families: forging ties that bind

26% of all babies in the US are born to unmarried mothers and nearly 50% of all families headed by a single mother live in poverty. A growing number of programs across the US are seeking the most effective ways to help young unmarried fathers take legal, financial, and emotional responsibility for their children. For example, the Ford Foundation is supporting research and pilot projects that improve the employment opportunities of unwed mothers and fathers of children on welfare. A major obstacle to responsible fatherhood is that many men lack the education, training, and jobs they need to provide for their children. Often, young men are ordered to pay a child support amount that does not take into account their fluctuating employment history. Many programs are providing low-income fathers with the education and job opportunities they need to become consistent providers. Before they can become good fathers, many young men require guidance in dealing with feelings of anger and low self-esteem. Support groups connected with these programs address topics such as male-female relationships, child rearing, decision-making, racism, how to control anger, and what it means to take responsibility for your life. Evaluations are underway to determine what happens to young fathers once they leave these programs.     

Conservative Protestantism and Paternal Engagement in Fragile Families1

Research consistently shows that married conservative Protestant fathers are more engaged with their children than otherwise comparable married fathers. Unfortunately, no research examines the relationship between conservative Protestantism and paternal engagement among unmarried men. Likewise, no research considers whether married and unmarried conservative Protestant fathers’ levels of paternal engagement differ more than they do for other married and unmarried fathers. This article considers these research questions using data from three waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study—a longitudinal study of mostly unmarried parents residing in urban areas with populations in excess of 200,000. Results demonstrate that conservative Protestantism is negatively associated with paternal engagement among unmarried fathers and that married and unmarried fathers’ levels of engagement with their children do not differ more than other married and unmarried fathers’ levels of engagement with their children. The finding that conservative Protestantism depresses paternal engagement among urban, unmarried fathers is especially important since it shows that affiliation with a conservative religious denomination may further disadvantage children already at elevated risk of having less engaged fathers.     

Family-Centered,Community-Based Asset Building: A Strategic Use of Individual Development Accounts

This research examines individual development account (IDA) programs as part of a broader community development strategy for low-income/low-wealth communities, particularly communities of color. Through a review of multiple literatures and detailed case studies, we explore the potential of explicitly creating a community-based, family-centered development account program as a step toward a comprehensive community asset building approach in low-income urban neighborhoods. From the perspective of IDA practitioners, such an approach provides program participants with local support networks and access to additional services. From the perspective of grassroots community organizers, such an approach provides tangible benefits to low-income residents of their neighborhoods. The likelihood of success may depend on the availability of local resources to build areas of strength and reduce vulnerabilities, but there are examples where a family-centered, community-based asset building approach seems to thrive.     

If you dare to ask: self-perceived possibilities of Spanish fathers to reduce work hours

Time scarcity is a reality for most mothers and fathers of young children who work full-time. Though the Spanish law recognizes a specific right to a reduced schedule for care reasons, fathers very rarely make use of this policy. Many of them simply think that, in their current employment circumstances, they ‘can’t’ cut down on work hours. This analysis focuses on the subjective perception that employees have of their difficulty to reduce work hours. Using a nationally representative sample of Spanish employees in charge of young children, and drawing on intersectionality perspectives, we propose that several stratification systems (e.g. gender and economic structure) overlap framing the subjective experience of how easy or difficult it is to adopt a reduced schedule. We confirm that fathers in middle-level service occupations (e.g. clerical workers) may be those most likely to be ‘undoing gender’ at work, as they differ significantly from other fathers in their perception that for them it would be easier to reduce their work hours.     

Dads care too! Participation in paid employment and experiences of workplace flexibility for Australian fathers caring for children and young adults with disabilities

This study uses Australian survey data to explore whether caring for children and young people with disabilities affects paid employment participation of fathers who identify as the secondary caregiver. More fathers in the study were in full-time employment than those in the general Australian population, but they worked fewer hours, often in jobs they did not enjoy or roles with less responsibility. Over one third of fathers reported that caring had impacted on their job opportunities or career progression, particularly those whose children had more severe disabilities. The financial costs of raising a child with disabilities and their caring obligations informed many of the decisions fathers made in relation to employment. Fixed hours of work, lack of understanding from their employer, an income tied to hours worked and staff resources were cited as reasons why almost half of the fathers felt they were unable to access flexible working conditions to assist with their child’s care. Self-employment was seen by many fathers as desirable, but the perceived increase in flexibility may be accompanied by an increase in work hours. Implications for paternal well-being are discussed, along with the lifelong implications of caring on employment and financial security for families in the Australian context.     

Masculinities and fathering

There is a developing body of research regarding fathering, in the UK, but the experiences of African-Caribbean and white working-class fathers, and how their experiences are mediated by gender and ethnicity have been neglected. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in research by reporting on the similarities and differences within the stories of African-Caribbean and white working-class men about fathering, and to examine the personal and structural dimensions to these experiences using Connell's theoretical framework for understanding masculinities (1995, 2005). Qualitative, semi-structured individual interviews were undertaken with seven white and six African-Caribbean fathers. Findings indicate that African-Caribbean fathers, specifically, their associated practices, regarding children's ‘behaviour’ and learning, with experiences of racism that they anticipated their children may encounter in the future. Both groups of men's stories demonstrated limited reflexivity about the unequal distribution of domestic labour within the home. The study also found that fathers’ experiences were associated with contradictory and differing forms of masculinity. The fathers’ stories provide evidence of changing forms of masculinity, for example, in ways in which fathers conceptualised fathering as enjoyable involvement with children, and the ways fathers negotiated and resisted the constraints of paid work in order to be involved with children. Findings also reinforce the importance of health and social care services reorienting their priorities to engage with fathers, and opportunities for future research, regarding the experiences of African-Caribbean fathers in particular, are also identified.     

Identifying and Predicting Offending Trajectories among Poor Children

Using data from the Seattle Social Development Project, we identify childhood predictors of offending trajectories among poor children. Five trajectories are identified: nonoffenders, late onsetters, desisters, escalators, and chronic offenders. Among initial nonoffenders, late onsetters are distinguished from nonoffenders by early alcohol drinking. Among youths already delinquent at age 13, escalators are distinguished from desisters by poor family management, family conflict, association with antisocial peers, the presence of troubled children in their neighborhoods, and drug availability. In contrast to prior findings for a general urban sample, family factors significantly predict desistance from offending by age 18 in children from low-income families.     

Fathers' employment in a father-friendly welfare state: does fatherhood affect men's working hours?

An important aim of Norwegian work–family policies is to enhance the family role of fathers. Time-use surveys show a slight increase in fathers’ family work, but we still know little about the relationship between men's family circumstances and working hours. On the one hand, policy measures encourage the greater involvement of fathers in family life. On the other hand, men are the main providers in most couples and employment and breadwinning are still important components of men's fathering identity. In this paper, we examine the relationship between fatherhood and working time, with a particular focus on the possible effects of the number and ages of children. Utilizing the Norwegian Labour Force Survey 2005, we find that men's contractual working hours are not significantly affected by their parental status, but men do curtail their actual working hours when they have young children, and particularly if there is only one child in the household. However, men with school-aged children actually work longer hours than non-fathers and men with young children.     

Fathers' encounters with the Child Welfare Service

In this article, we examined fathers who were or had been in contact with the Child Welfare Services in Norway. All of the fathers included in this study had children with women who were unable to take care of them, either because of substance abuse or mental health problems. Hence, the fathers had the primary responsibility for the children. We looked at how these fathers experienced being met and assessed as caregivers by the Child Welfare Service, as well as how they experienced their own competency as caregivers. To explore these themes, seven fathers who were in contact with or had recently been in contact with the Child Welfare Service were interviewed. The discourses on fatherhood, inspired by Scourfield (2003), were used as a framework for the analysis, and interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the interviews. We found the fathers' experiences to be considered within the discourses on “fathers as a threat”, “fathers as irrelevant” and “fathers as better than mothers”. In addition, we shed light on topics such as the cultural lag, being single-handedly responsible for the children, and the fathers' views on what is important in their contact with the children.Our goal was to increase awareness about fathers who are in contact with the Child Welfare Service so that they are met in a way that helps to support them in their role as fathers for the benefit of their children.     

The Relationship Between Non-Resident Fathers’ Social Networks and Social Capital and the Establishment of Paternity

Literature examining child support compliance among non-resident fathers has primarily come from the perspective of collecting child support payments. Receiving limited attention in the literature has been the exclusive discussion of establishment of paternity, which is related to child support compliance. Furthermore, the literature has given limited attention to never married, cohabitating, unemployed, underemployed, and low-income, non-resident fathers. This study focuses on the intra- and inter-networks these non-resident fathers utilize in fulfilling their child support obligations, establishing paternity. The results indicate that non-resident fathers’ relationships with their former spouses or partners contribute to an increase in the establishment of paternity. Implications for policymakers and program service delivery are offered.     

Middle‐Class Parents,Urban Schooling,and the Shift From Consumption to Production of Urban Space

Dominant approaches to the study of gentrification tend to attribute this process either to the production of urban space by elites or to the consumption of urban space by individual consumers. In this article, we take a preliminary step toward bridging this gap by illustrating how these groups may, in some cases, be the same actors. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with middle‐class parents in Boston, we explore the transitions that gentrifiers undergo as they age and have children. As young singles and childless couples, our respondents interacted with the city mainly as passive consumers. Years later, however, facing pressures to relocate in search of high‐quality educational options, these parents emerged as active producers of the urban landscape through their substantial involvement in their children's public elementary schools. This school‐based engagement reinforced their loyalties to their neighborhoods, dissuading them from moving to the suburbs. Since it is based on intense interactions with small local institutions, though, this strategy will likely be more difficult for parents to sustain in larger, less personal high schools. Thus, these parents may reconsider their dedication to city living as their children age. We discuss the implications of this research for urban theory and policy.     

“Because being fat means being sick”: children at risk of type 2 diabetes

This study addresses the social and cultural underpinnings that shape children’s risk of type 2 diabetes, as identified by a racially and economically diverse group of parents and their children living in Anaheim, California. Based on in-depth interviews with 28 adults and 17 children, we explored how they understood what constitutes “good health” in children and the aspects of their neighborhoods and communities that acted as resources or impediments to their children’s well-being. We found that parents and children employed a language of food that reflected a fear-based, medicalized orientation to food consumption. Although nearly all agreed that children should stay active, densely populated neighborhoods, apartment complexes with rigid outdoor rules, high crime rates, police surveillance, and diminished access to public parks and recreational facilities posed challenges. Similarly problematic were deficits in school lunch programs and the limited sometimes demeaning, conversations with healthcare professionals about diabetes risk and prevention. Together, these narratives identify key structural processes attendant to type 2 diabetes risk in children and call for a more politicized conversation regarding prevention strategies and public healthcare practices.     

Preschoolers' perceptions of neighborhood environment,safety, and help-seeking

Studies that focus on children's safety and well-being often focus on neighborhoods as the unit of analysis, as it is within these geographic confines that children spend much of their time. Such studies have shown that neighborhoods directly and indirectly influence children's safety and well-being. Much of this research has focused on census data and/or caregivers' perceptions of neighborhood characteristics. Less attention has been given to the neighborhood experiences and perceptions of children themselves, especially young children. The current study utilized two techniques for interviewing pre-schoolers (aged 4 and 5): individual interviews incorporating drawing and focus groups integrating a story and a puppet. The current study highlights the important of incorporating children's perceptions and offers new measures of doing so. In the current study, very young children were put in the center of the exploration and the findings stress that children's experiences in their neighborhood were geographically limited. They talked about their homes, preschools, and the playground. In part, this finding may be indicative of the lack of child-friendly spaces and resources for children in the neighborhood. In addition, the current study shed a light into children understanding and ability to discuss safety and help seeking, which are key concepts to any future planning of prevention and intervention efforts with children. Delve into the individuals to whom children said they turned for help revealed extremely limited list of family members, which raises concerns about the support networks available to the children and their families. This study suggests that the inclusion of young children's perspectives may facilitate programs and initiatives aimed at improving their safety and well-being by identifying sources of protections and threat from children's own perspectives.     

A Longitudinal Examination of Housing Hardships Among Urban Fathers

Stable housing is widely recognized as a prerequisite for the functioning of individuals and families. However, the housing stability of fathers is understudied, particularly for fathers living apart from their children. This analysis measures the extent and nature of fathers' housing insecurity using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national longitudinal survey of urban families. Housing insecurity affects a substantial portion of fathers, with 25% experiencing insecurity at least once in their child's first 9 years. However, few fathers report persistent insecurity that spans consecutive waves. Data also indicate significant differences in rates of housing insecurity between fathers living with, and apart from, the mothers of their children, with nonresident fathers far less likely to report secure housing and more likely to experience incarceration. The nature of insecurity experienced by nonresident fathers is also qualitatively different than that experienced by their coresident counterparts.     

Fathers Under Scrutiny: Nonresidential Fathers’ Perceptions of Visitation Centers

Visitation centers provide a protected environment for meetings between noncustodial fathers and their children. The aim of the study was to analyze fathers’ experiences with the visitation center. This qualitative study is based on 12 interviews with fathers who had been meeting their children in visitation centers. Findings show that the fathers’ experiences were structured by two poles. On one pole were fathers who experienced the visitation center as a hostile place designed for supervision, limiting their parenthood role. On the opposite pole were fathers who experienced the visitation center as a secure and enabling space that helped in the continuity of relationships with their children. Another group of interviewees expressed both dichotomous voices, experiencing the visitation center as a positive opportunity to meet children, but as negative due to supervision. The discussion focuses on masculinity as constructing the fathers’ experiences.     

Moral voices of politically engaged urban youth

The relationship between reflection and action is an enduring question for those interested in promoting moral development among young people. Educators struggle to find effective methods for helping youth reason carefully about moral problems and also to show moral commitment in their everyday lives. One place where reflection and action come together is in youth activism, where young people engage in social action campaigns to improve their schools and communities. What are the moral concerns that urban youth raise when given the opportunity? How do these concerns get translated into action? Drawing on original and secondary sources, this chapter discusses four social action campaigns organized by youth in the San Francisco Bay Area, in which youth combined critical moral judgments with social action. The chapter is not an empirical study, but instead an effort to bring attention to the moral and ethical perspectives that politically engaged youth raise. These social action projects suggest that for youth living in low-income neighborhoods with limited resources, the capacity for critical moral reflection about one's surroundings is an important dimension of healthy development. Helping youth assess and transform their local environments represents a promising direction for moral education and youth development.     

Effects of an Expressive Art Intervention with Urban Youth in Low-Income Neighborhoods

Various forms of expressive arts are known to have associations with positive academic, social, and behavioral outcomes in addition to offering important therapeutic benefits for children and adolescents. However, very limited knowledge has been developed regarding specific expressive arts interventions for promoting positive youth development and preventing problematic behaviors in youth from urban, low socioeconomic neighborhoods. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to expand the nascent research area in arts interventions by evaluating an expressive art intervention offered to youth through a positive youth development program located in several public housing neighborhoods. Quasi-experimental design was applied to test the impact of a poetry-focused art intervention on self-reported perceptions of academics, social competence, and multicultural attitudes of a culturally diverse sample of 40 urban sixth to eighth grade youth. Participants were recruited through a positive youth development program located in the public housing neighborhoods where they reside. Pre and post data were collected. Prior to the arts intervention, there were no statistically significant differences between the youth on self-report measures of academic capacity and social competence. The first group of youth who participated in the intervention reported enhanced capacity on all three measures when compared to peers who had not yet participated in the program. However, the second group of youth to receive the program showed no statistically significant gains when compared to their peers who received the intervention first. The study provides compelling support to further explore the efficacy of expressive arts on influencing attributes of positive youth development among urban adolescents. In addition, the study offers valuable insights into the process and complexities involved in developing agency partnerships and conducting research on after-school programs.