HSIPC: Head Start Bulletin #65 - Family Involvement

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March 1999

Issue No. 65

Strengthening Families

     At the National Head Start Association's annual meeting in April 1998, Dr. Jeffrey Johnson of the Fragile Families Project spoke about supporting families in Head Start and throughout the community. He noted that welfare was originally established for a mother and her children-the father was absent or dead. In fact, welfare was denied to families if a man was present in the household. These policies meant that if a family fell on hard times, the most loving and supportive thing a man could do was to leave his wife and children so that they would be eligible for government support.

     Vestiges of this mentality remain-welfare programs continue to be biased in favor of the mother. Even the job training programs established under TANF are aimed at mothers-fathers, who also need support to provide for their families, are not included.

     The Strengthening Fragile Families initiative is aimed primarily at the young, low-skilled, never-married couple who's given birth but has not legitimized the event by marriage or the establishment of paternity.

     Many of these young women and men start out the same in terms of skills and eligibility for assistance. The mom and dad usually have a relationship, too-one that has existed anywhere from one to two years. But once the woman becomes pregnant and gives birth, a variety of government supports kick in for her-and not for him. Fathers in fragile families often can't help, because they can't compete with the government in providing the support that the child (and the mother) needs. The relationship between the two dissipates as the mother moves into the welfare system alone and is left to be poor alone. The father is left to move on alone, too.

     The Strengthening Fragile Families initiative seeks to change this phenomenon by encouraging welfare and family support systems to recognize low-skilled, unwed parents and their children as a unit, where appropriate. Under this initiative, the Ford Foundation is supporting

Identification of Fragile Families-basic research on the relationships between young, low-skilled unwed couples before, during, and shortly after their children are born.
Enhanced Paternity Establishment-development of policies and family support practices that encourage low-skilled fathers to become involved in the lives of their children, establish legal paternity, and increase employ- ment, earnings, and child support payments.
Team Parenting-development of family support practices that help unwed parents resolve conflicts and cooperate to provide for their children's needs.
Communication-outreach efforts to policymakers, researchers, grantmakers, and the broader public to promote the idea of reconnecting fathers and families.
Dialogue-discussions between men and women at the local and national level about the advantages and risks of reconnecting fathers to families.

Pilot sites for the Fragile Families project have been established in 10 communities around the United States (Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO; Indianapolis, IN; Los Angeles, CA; Minneapolis, MN; New York, NY; Racine, WI; West Chester, PA. Through the activities outlined above, the project hopes to provide low-skilled fathers with the skills and support they need to meet the financial, developmental, and emotional needs of their children.

For more information, contact Dr. Jeffrey M. Johnson, President and CEO of the National Center for Strategic Nonprofit Planning and Community Leadership (NPCL), at T: 888-528-6725.


Contents - Bulletin No. 65	On to The Forgotten Parent

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