Family Policy Must Include Fathers

Washington, D.C.--Many poverty programs serve families by trying to improve children’s lives, and helping children often translates into “family” policy. But far too often, the notion of “family” translates into a focus on mothers and children. According to a new CAP report “Low-Income Fathers Need to Get Connected,” the focus of family policy needs to include fathers as well.
Men are able to financially contribute to their children’s well-being and help lift them out of poverty in the short term. They also provide care and emotional supports that can improve children’s life outcomes and help break the cycle of poverty in the long term.

Unfortunately, far too many low-income men, and especially men of color, face barriers to playing these roles in their children’s lives. This paper reveals how fathers are disproportionately disconnected from some extremely vital domains, and how these disconnections harm them, their children, and families more generally.
The paper offers the following recommendations for how the Obama administration’s proposed Fatherhood, Marriage, and Families Innovation Fund should be used to help low-income families:
Further include men within the notion of “family” for policy purposes
Reduce poverty by addressing the known disconnections and challenges of fathers
Offer comprehensive solutions that address the complexities arising from men’s various disconnections
Relieve stressors that divide families, which would provide them with greater freedom to make personal choices about family formation and maintenance based on reasons other than those associated with poverty
The best results will require more than the $500 million the administration recommends for the Fatherhood, Marriage, and Families Innovation Fund. And while increasing the amount of the appropriation is important, greater resources can also be garnered by better coordinating existing programs, including other comprehensive service models that are reaching families facing similar challenges in such systems as homeless services, child welfare, and reentry/crime prevention.

Click HERE to view full report