The following is excerpted from Cutting Across the Issues: Themes from the 1995-1997 Fathers and Families Roundtable Series.

Mission

The mission of the National Center on Fathers and Families (NCOFF) is to improve the life chances and well-being of children and the efficacy of families by facilitating the positive involvement of fathers. NCOFF aims to achieve this mission by promoting the conduct and dissemination of sound basic, applied, and policy research that examines critically issues in the seven Core Learnings and related work and that can contribute to social change. Developed in the spirit of the Philadelphia Children's Network's (PCN) motto, "Help the children. Fix the system.", NCOFF seeks to increase and enrich the possibilities for children, particularly those most vulnerable to hardship and poverty. NCOFF shares with PCN the premises that children need loving, nurturing families; that families need support in providing nurturance; and that a critical component of support includes increasing the ability of fathers, mothers, and other adults to contribute to children's social, emotional, and cognitive development.

Seven Core Learnings

Fathers care--even if that caring is not shown in conventional ways.

Father presence matters--in terms of economic well-being, social support, and child development.

Joblessness is a major impediment to family formation and father involvement.

Existing approaches to public benefits, child support enforcement, and paternity establishment operate to create obstacles and disincentives to father involvement. The disincentives are sufficiently compelling as to have prompted the emergence of a phenomenon dubbed "underground fathers" - men who acknowledge paternity and are involved in the lives of their children but who refuse to participate as fathers in the formal systems.

A growing number of young fathers and mothers need additional support to develop the vital skills to share the responsibility for parenting.

The transition from biological father to committed parent has significant development implications for young fathers.

The behaviors of young parents, both fathers and mothers, are influenced significantly by intergenerational beliefs and practices within families of origin.

The seven Core Learnings are at the heart of NCOFF's agenda for research, practice, and policy and are a framework for the field. They represent the knowledge and experience of practitioners who confront complex problems facing fathers and families and are consistent with research across multiple disciplines. They offer an important lens through which policymakers might learn more about the implications and impact of legislation and policy decisions in the lives of large numbers of fathers, mothers, children, and families Within them are captured salient issues experienced and felt deeply by a range of fathers and families--from those who are financially secure to those who are the most vulnerable to poverty and hardship.

The Core Learnings were identified immediately prior to NCOFF's inception by frontline practitioners in a series of survey and focus group activities conducted by the Philadelphia Children's Network and NCOFF. Formulated first as seven hypotheses drawn from practitioners' experiences in programs serving fathers and families, each hypothesis was tested against existing published research and policy studies. As each hypothesis was borne out in the literature, it became a Core Learning. A library of information was developed for each. The resultant seven libraries now constitute the NCOFF FatherLit Research Database and include over 7,000 citations, annotations, and abstracts of research, available in written, diskette, CD, and electronic form.

Executive Summary

What are the issues facing fathers in supporting their children and families? What are the roles that fathers can and do play in children's development and family efficacy? What are the needs of mothers who are primary caregivers to children? In what ways does father presence or absence matter? Is there a culture of fatherhood, and how are issues of culture, diversity, and difference examined within research on fathers and families? What are the strengths and the needs of practice in serving families and encouraging positive father involvement and effective cooperative parenting? How can fathers and families research contribute to the work of practitioners, programs, and communities? What policies are needed to effect positive change for children and families, and how do these policies integrate issues related to fathers? In discussing fathers and families, what are the ways in which salient issues cut across research, practice, and policy, and what are the possibilities for shared efforts?

These questions are posed within each of the Core Learnings and were among those discussed at the 1995-1997 Fathers and Families Roundtable Series, sponsored by the National Center on Fathers and Families (NCOFF). The Roundtable series consisted of meetings designed to connect researchers from different disciplines, along with practitioners and policymakers, in small, focused forums that stimulate critical analyses -from developing new conceptualizations of work on fathers and families, particularly around issues of race, culture, poverty, and gender, to the creation and implementation of action agendas, to the study of fathers' relationships with mothers, cooperative and shared parenting, and child and family welfare.

The purpose of the Roundtable Series was to promote issues around fathers and families through multiple forms of inquiry, encourage research that informs and is informed by practice and policy, and create opportunities for cross-disciplinary and cross-domain collaborations. The discussions at the 1995-1997 Roundtable Series included approximately 30 to 35 researchers, practitioners, and policymakers at federal and state levels. At every meeting, roundtable participants examined current and emerging issues, policy implications, and new directions for practice, research, and public policy. Three papers were used as focal areas of discussion for each roundtable: an NCOFF-commissioned literature review and two papers specially developed or revised for the roundtable.

This report describes the richness of the roundtable discussions and the extent to which participants struggled to untangle their complex topics while reflecting the current state of the field. It highlights the major themes that cut across the seven meetings with particular focus on their implications for practice, research, and policy. Because the issues affecting fathers and families are interrelated, the distinctions among several of the Core Learnings - particularly fathers care, father presence matters, co-parenting, and role transitions - occasionally became blurred. Overall, however, participants emphasized three points. First, fatherhood takes diverse forms and can be viewed through many lenses, and current practice, research, and policy do not always accommodate this diversity. Second, fathers and fatherhood are complex and influenced by many factors. And third, many fundamental, unresolved questions still exist about what it means to be a good father.

This report is intended to spark further debate among people concerned with fatherhood and family issues. It synthesizes the major viewpoints and experiences expressed by roundtable participants, most of which are related to the broad points outlined above. The first section presents key themes and implications that emerged across the seven roundtables. The second section summarizes participants' recommendations for new directions in practice, research, and public policy. Selected findings from the commissioned literature reviews are presented throughout the report to provide additional context.

Foreword

The NCOFF Fathers and Families Roundtable Series

The decline in the quality of life for children coupled with sweeping changes in policy and support to poor families within the past two years heighten the need for coherent and responsive efforts. The seven Core Learnings are the framework through which the field can examine these issues and deepen our understanding of the needs and problems facing fathers and families. Distilled from the experiences of practitioners and found to be resonant with critical research analyses, the Core Learnings provide the context for the National Center on Fathers and Families (NCOFF) to conduct and support interdisciplinary, cross-domain activities, build the knowledge base on fathers and families, and promote a forward-thinking agenda within and across research, practice, and policy. Future initiatives around father involvement, we believe, must secure the well-being of children over the short- and long-term and must address the increasing challenges with which growing numbers of children and their families grapple. The NCOFF Fathers and Families Roundtable Series was designed to explore these challenges and work toward positive change. This report shares with you the issues and recommendations of the Roundtable participants.

Future initiatives around father involvement, we believe, must secure the well-being of children over the short- and long-term. As a university-based research center, NCOFF is committed to understanding a range of theoretical and practical issues in the field, i.e., to study whether, how, and with what effects fathers do and can contribute to children's well-being, support of mothers, and family functioning. We are encouraged by the interest in practice-focused efforts, continued commitment to basic and policy research on families, and increasing public attention to father involvement and family efficacy. The Fathers and Families Roundtable Series is one important step toward building the field. It will be enriched only by well planned, vigorously pursued agendas that support family efficacy, children's well-being, and positive father involvement and by our continued and collaborative investment in individuals, communities, and organizations committed to effecting positive change.

Vivian L. Gadsden
Director

Reprinted with permission from the National Center on Fathers and Families

Available From:
National Center on Fathers and Families
University of Pennsylvania
3700 Walnut Street, Box 58
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6216
Phone: (215) 573-5500
Fax: (215) 573-5508
Web page: www.upenn.edu/gse/ncoff
Email: mailbox@ncoff.gse.upenn.edu

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