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| Promoting Responsible Fatherhood | Federal Resource Site |
[Current Around the Regions]
[Links were valid as of 6/2004]
HHS and its Regional Offices are working to coordinate fatherhood activities throughout the states and have sponsored a variety of forums to bring together local public and private organizations and individuals to support fathers' involvement in their families and communities.
Additionally a growing number of states have state-wide fatherhood initiatives. Information on some of the private and public sector state-wide activities are provided for each region. Note that the designation “State of” or “Commonwealth of” means that the fatherhood initiative is a function of a State office or agency. State-wide initiatives without that designation have been initiated and implemented by the private sector. Such private initiatives are primarily funded through the private sector, but may also receive some state funding.
To find out what’s happening in the area of fatherhood, as it relates to HHS programs, initiatives, and responsibilities and other activities in each region, please contact the designated regional HHS staff. You can click on the map below or the list of HHS Regions to jump to a particular Region.
[ Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 3 | Region 4 | Region 5 | Region 6 | Region 7 | Region 8 | Region 9 | Region 10 ]
Regional web pages: Click on the Region name below to go to the Region’s web page.
Regional Directors: http://www.hhs.gov/iga/regions.html
State Child Support Offices: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/extinf.htm#exta
(Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont)
Hugh Galligan
Regional Administrator
Administration for Children and Families
John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Rm 2000
Government Center
Boston, MA 02203
Phone: 617-565-1020
Fax: 617-565-2493
As part of building an effective fatherhood strategy, Region I forges strong partnerships with local, state and national fatherhood programs and organizations. Working with these partners, the Regional Office produces an annual Fathering Conference that is attended by over 400 participants from throughout New England. The conference, now in its fourth year, features workshops addressing important fathering issues, cutting edge and best practice models in fatherhood programming and service delivery, and numerous learning and networking opportunities for early childhood educators, family service providers, parent educators, social workers, program administrators, advocates, and Dads who want to improve their fathering skills and learn more about the important role they play in their child’s healthy development. Recent workshops included knowing what to expect your child can do and when, working with dads behind the walls, integrating marriage support systems in to fatherhood programs, fathers and the child welfare system, evaluation and outcome-based measures for fathering programs, and working with dads of children with disabilities.
The Regional Office also plays a key leadership role in producing a major Father’s Day celebration of fathering and families called Dads Make A Difference. The event, which takes place on the Boston Common, is free to the public and draws a crowd of over 10,000 participants. The day’s activities include onstage entertainment featuring magicians, comedy acts, and multi-cultural music and dance performances, hands-on educational exhibits, fun activities as well as information tables about local organizations and resources to help families and especially dads. The event also honors Super Dads. These fathers,granddads, uncles, and step-dads are nominated by children who write a 200-word essay explaining why their dad or other significant male is a Super Dad. This idea for a celebratory Father’s Day event is now replicated in other New England communities such as Worcester and Springfield, MA.
Region I continues to provide leadership and support for father and male involvement projects in New England’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs through its Good Guys initiative, small grants that are used by programs to encourage father involvement, provide staff development training, produce special events, facilitate father support groups, and many other activities. Virtually all of the Region’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs now provide a specific focus on involving fathers and other significant male role models in their child’s Head Start experience as an expansion of their parent involvement component. The Regional Office staff monitors a broad range of father involvement activities through special surveys as well as its regular monitoring activities, allowing us to identify promising practices and local staff who can provide leadership and technical assistance to their peers. Regional Head Start conferences and our Early Head Start Quality Conferences routinely feature workshops where local programs share their father involvement strategies and best practices. These conferences are also opportunities to share information about new services such as the NFI’s Doctor Dad program. The regionally developed HS Self-Assessment Tool Kit has been revised to include a subset of questions relating to father involvement activities. Programs report that the assessment is not only helpful in preparing for PRISM reviews, but also helps to keep the importance of father involvement in full view for staff, parents and the local community.
Finally, all of the Region I states continue to provide a wide range of access and visitation services to address access and parenting needs of unwed, divorced, and separated parents. The regional office remains engaged with state fatherhood initiatives, including serving on state task forces and participating in state fatherhood networks, as well as sharing information about available resources for fatherhood programs.
Access and Visitation. Massachusetts provides unwed parents with courses in parenting education and on how to proceed through the court system. The expected outcome is that parenting plans will be developed by and for noncustodial and custodial parents. Contact Beth Winik at (617) 626-4182.
Access and Visitation. Rhode Island continues to provide court-based mediation programs and supervised visitation services that are scheduled to accommodate parents with traditional working hours. The Rhode Island Family Court is also planning to develop a brochure and educational video for children of divorced or separated parents that specifically address the realities of parental separation and offer suggestions for coping with a change in family structure. Contact George Dimuro at (401) 458-5320.
[ Go to Map ]
(New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands)
Mary Ann Higgins
Regional Administrator
Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children and Families
26 Federal Plaza, Room 4114
New York, NY 10278
Phone: 212-264-2890, ext. 103
Fax: 212-264-4881
Region II Office of Child Support Enforcement Fatherhood Activities
Access and Visitation. New Jersey established a Child Access and Parenting Time (Visitation) Advisory Group to address access and parenting needs of children of unwed, divorced, or separated parents. This on-going advisory group recently developed a pamphlet entitled "Parenting Time: A Child’s Right" which will be distributed to all county courthouses as well as local police stations. The activities of the advisory group are in addition to the provision of specific access & visitation programs including mediation, parent education, children’s programs, supervised parenting time, neutral drop-off/pick-up, and site and therapeutic services. Contact Mary DeLeo at (609) 984-7793.
The following are several Work First New Jersey (WFNJ) TANF program activities that encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families:
WFNJ Step Parent Provision
In WFNJ, individuals who marry cash assistance recipients are not held
financially responsible for the recipient’s children. This promotes
marriage and stabilizes families.
WFNJ Faith-Based Initiative
New Jersey is taking advantage of the valuable resources that lie within
local communities by forming a close alliance with houses of worship and
other faith-based organizations. Through the WFNJ Faith-based Organizations
Task Force, we are working to expand the support base that is available for
families.
Through a statewide survey conducted of more than 6,000 religious congregations and houses of worship, the task force has developed an inventory of the nature and extent of social services which they provide to New Jersey’s welfare population and the working poor. Ongoing efforts are directed toward assisting the faith community in enhancing or expanding available supports to families in need, in coordination with a broad network of government and private-sector service providers. Faith-based activities are provided for families with income of less than 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.
Operation Fatherhood
New Jersey’s efforts in the area of absent parents includes, but is
not limited to:
Work will be done with the prisons and county jails as well as inner city community groups to reach the non-custodial parents.
The goal of this effort is not only to assist absent parents to meet their child support obligations but to enable them to become meaningful, active and positive participants in their children’s lives. This will be achieved by engaging these individuals in improvement activities on both the employment and personal levels. Fatherhood initiatives for cash assistance recipients who are absent fathers and members of WFNJ/TANF families are funded through Federal TANF and State MOE.
Services for non-custodial fathers who are not members of the WFNJ/TANF family are funded with State only funds.
New Jersey Earned Income Tax Program
New Jersey has enacted legislation (P.L. 2000, c.80, enacted August 14, 2000)
to establish a New Jersey Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program. This program
will further promote work and job retention by supplementing the incomes
of low-income working families as they move up the career ladder and remain
independent from public assistance. For purposes of the New Jersey Earned
Income Tax Program and claiming of State MOE funds, the definition of a
"qualifying child" parallels that found in the Internal Revenue Code used
for Federal Income Tax reporting purposes. The New Jersey EITC program is
available to families with annual earned incomes of $20,000 or less.
NJ Individual Development Account (IDA) Program
The NJ Individual Development Account (IDA) Program is being operated in
conjunction with the Department of Community Affairs and its designated entities.
NJ IDAs are being made available to both TANF and post-TANF recipients whose
incomes are below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. Client contributions
are matched dollar for dollar up to specific amounts yearly for the purpose
of saving for costs of a primary residence, post-secondary education and
qualified business capitalization. Parallel to the savings process, participants
are required to attend a basic financial education course and an asset specific
training program.
Supporting Two-Parent Families
New Jersey operates a comprehensive state-funded program to support marriage
and two-parent families by providing the same services and employment and
work activities as those provided to TANF eligible families. Non-financial
and financial eligibility is consistent with federal TANF and WFNJ criteria.
Access and Visitation. New York intends to fund local proposals for a wide range of access and visitation services. The State will also use TANF funds to jointly fund job and child access services to assist low-income, noncustodial parents fulfill their child support obligations. Contact Judith Smith at (518) 486-4611.
Employment Project: In New York City the Child Support Enforcement Program recognizes that it can’t collect child support from a parent who has no source of income. That scenario leaves the child support system without a way of helping the children of the unemployed community. Therefore, they have joined forces with community-based organizations and Family Court to implement STEP (Step Through Employment Program). This program allows participants the opportunity to obtain job training and placement services with the goal of satisfying their child support obligations.
STEP was implemented in February 2002 as a pilot project in Manhattan, one of NYC’s 5 boroughs. Manhattan Family Court hears all of the City’s TANF related child support cases, in addition to the non-public assistance cases originating in that borough. STEP is open to any non-custodial parent appearing in court for a child support hearing. The only requirement for STEP is an apparent inability to pay child support due to unemployment or underemployment.
The success of STEP depends on the cooperation of Family Court and the active participation of the organizations providing services. Since the implementation of STEP, 625 NCPs have been referred for interviews. Of that number, 128 either failed to comply, dropped out or were rejected. The remaining 80% moved into various stages of training and employment. The community-based organizations providing job training and placement are required to complete an evaluation report on each NCP after a 3 month period.
[ Go to Map ]
(Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia)
Juanita DeVine
Regional Program Manager for Child Support Enforcement
Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children and Families
150 S. Independence Mall West, Suite 864
Philadelphia, PA 19106-3499
Phone: 215-861-4054
Fax: 215-861-4070
On June 4, 2003, Region III CSE participated in a focus group conducted during a forum hosted by the Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS). Region III played an integral role on the planning committee that sponsored this one-day forum, entitled, Fatherhood – Forever Building, Strengthening and Educating Families, held at the Philadelphia Convention Center and attended by over 700 service providers, community organizations, and young and adult male single family caretakers. The forum’s objectives were to provide the opportunity to: a) dialogue about the roles that fathers play in the healthy development of children in our diverse communities; b) share best practices about community-based initiatives and services that effectively engage fathers and other male caretakers in the developmental processes of their children; c) learn about access to existing fathers’ services; and d) explore service needs. A collaboration of city agencies, service providers, system partners, and community members came together to share a wealth of knowledge and experiences that needed to be examined and shared in order to more effectively address service needs for fathers in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
The forum began with opening remarks by: John F. Street, Mayor of Philadelphia; Myrna Field, Administrative Judge-Family Court Division; and Alba E. Martinez Commissioner of DHS. The Keynote Speaker of the opening plenary was Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, well-known author and an appointed Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Dyson addressed the contemporary crises facing the African American community and the challenges facing disadvantaged males as being important role models and responsible fathers.
Region III CSE reserved exhibition space and gave out many pamphlets and informational materials on the Child Support Enforcement Program to forum participants.
Access and Visitation. Delaware has established special visitation centers where parents can safely exchange children and where visitation with conflicted cases can be monitored and supervised. Delaware has five locations statewide. Contact Joanne Finnigan at (302) 255-9880.
TANF. Through Delaware’s courts, State Service Centers are available for supervised visits between parents and children 7 days a week. The centers are also available as a drop-off point for visits with a NCP when the relationship between parents is too acrimonious for a cooperative pick-up/drop-off.
The Northeast Service Center has facilities for video visits between children and their incarcerated parents. Due to overcrowding in Delaware’s prisons, incarcerated parents may be transferred to Virginia correctional institutions. These transfers are done with little notice to the individual or family, for security purposes. The Center has video equipment to allow children to see and speak with their parents inside the prison.
Access and Visitation. The District of Columbia provides a hotline for parents with access and visitation problems to provide them with education and information materials and service referrals that will help solve their parenting problems. Contact Laurie Ensworth at (202) 724-2114.
TANF: The District of Columbia (DC) Department of Human Services (DHS) recognizes the significant barriers to responsible fatherhood and is immediately beginning to address them by drawing in critical partners with the experience and expertise for developing successful father-focused programs. Principal partners include the National Center for Strategic Nonprofit Planning and Community Leadership (NPCL), and the National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families, Inc. (NPNFF).
The District of Columbia Fatherhood Initiative (DCFI) is actively engaged in organizing all essential partners in both the public and private sectors who are committed to this national initiative. Currently, the District is using approximately $200,000 TANF dollars for existing grant programs that conduct job training, parent involvement and education for fathers. Additional outreach grants totaling $300,000 in TANF dollars are currently being funded for a year’s duration, continuing them into FY 2004. These additional grants are being awarded to both community and faith-based organizations. However, the District reports that both their fatherhood and marriage initiative grants will not be funded after this year due to fiscal constraints. While the District is well aware that encouraging fathers to be, or become involved with their children is an essential and worthwhile component, and they continue to seek support from private entities, the additional TANF bonuses will not be available to support the future grants.
DHS believes that the District’s children will benefit from parents who are actively involved in their lives and mutually responsible for loving nurturing, supporting and protecting them. Other critical partners who will be engaged by DHS are the Center for Workforce Development, the Center for Study of Social Policy, the National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families and the National Fatherhood Initiative.
CSE: The District of Columbia Child Support Enforcement Division (DCCSED) has been collaborating with the National Association of Black in Criminal Justice (NABCJ). This organization is a group of criminal justice professionals and community leaders dedicated to improving the administration of justice. NABCJ has published a technical training guide to be used by faith and community based groups in mentoring ex-offenders and their children. This organization can be contacted via their website: www.NABCJ.org.
Access and Visitation. Maryland provides a mix of services through community-based organizations such as mediation, counseling, design of alternative custody arrangements, as well, as supervised and neutral drop-off and pickup sites. In some cases, these programs are used in conjunction with job services to provide comprehensive responsible fatherhood projects.
TANF. Maryland’s Young Fathers Responsible Fathers Programs (YFRF) is one of seven father-focused initiatives in the State. The YFRP program does not provide financial assistance. However, it does provide services to custodial and noncustodial fathers such as parenting, education, family planning, GED instruction, job training, employment-search assistance, and self-esteem building. The program has seven sites in six counties and one located in Baltimore that serves young fathers, age 16 and up, who have one or more children. YFRF programs also encourage co-parenting for noncustodial fathers.
In addition, Maryland’s Youthbuild Sandtown Program (YSP), a subsidiary of Youthbuild USA, serves low-income at-risk youth, ages 16-24, in the West Baltimore Sandtown community. The program has a requirement that 25 percent of its program participants must be female. Seventy-five percent of the participants are school dropouts, teenage parents, single parents, noncustodial fathers or juvenile offenders who are given a second chance. Nationally, the Youthbuild program model has an 86 percent success rate with graduates going to college, and into the labor force earning an average of $11 an hour. The purpose of the program is to enhance the motivation, performance, and self-esteem of youth, and is thus reasonably calculated to achieve the third goal of the TANF law, the reduction of out of wedlock pregnancies.
Dads Connections Program - Washington County, Maryland
To increase effort, educate the community regarding the importance of fathers
in children’s lives, and to advertise the services it provides to fathers.
The program serves non-custodial fathers who are involved with Child Support
Enforcement to establish paternity, develop child support orders, pay child
support, secure employment, and mediate visitation plans.
Caroline County Department of Social Services - Fatherhood Program
The Fatherhood For Now program manager is facilitating a bi-monthly
young fathers support group at Colonel Richardson High School. The goal of
the program is to encourage those fathers not to father additional children
until they are financially and emotionally ready. The curriculum teaches
life skills and encourages those fathers to be involved in the life of their
child(ren).
The Fatherhood For Now program manager and a Regional Mid-Shore Mental Health Services counselor facilitate a bi-monthly pre-release support group in detention with fathers scheduled to be released within 90 days. Each father received a $10.00 debit card at Wal-Mart for each session they attend. The goal of the program is to help inmates mentally prepare to meet the many challenges they will face when they return to their communities. They are referred to resources in the community to help them overcome their stated concerns/issues. He also facilitates a monthly support group in detention for any interested male.
The Fatherhood For Now program manager in conjunction with the DADS (Dads All Deserve Support) Support Group initiated a t-shirt essay in Caroline County Public Schools. Principals were asked to allow their student body to write essays about their fathers’ involvement in their lives and community involvement. The winners received a t-shirt and certificate. Some of the runners up received certificates. The t-shirt has a picture of a child sitting on a father’s shoulder on the front with the caption "Caught in the Act of Being a Great Dad." On the back of the shirt are the words "A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove ... but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child".
The Fatherhood For Now program manager is a volunteer monitor for the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension 4-H sponsored Dads Make a Difference Program. The program is a service-learning opportunity for teens dealing with fatherhood, parenting, and sexual responsibility. It is paternity education project where interested teens, learn and teach middle school-age youth about the importance of fathers in children’s lives.
Services to Ex-Offenders. The Maryland Child Support Enforcement Administration (CSEA) is working with the Department of Corrections on a computer interface, which will identify non-custodial parents in state prisons, their expected release dates and specific locations, etc. This will enable CSEA to partner with competitive grantees providing services to ex-offenders coming back into the community. The plan is to identify which of these parents qualify for WtW funding due to a connection with a TANF child so that services can be offered both pre-release and post release. CSEA and the community partners will be seeking a federal grant to help set up a special unit within CSEA to provide case management services to these parents in order to handle their cases. The goal is to contribute to their success during transition into the community and not impede it by certain enforcement activities during reintegration.
(State of) Maryland Fatherhood Initiative
Keith Snipes is Deputy Director for Father Focused Initiatives and can be
reached at 410-767-8477.
http://www.FatherhoodMD.org
The Maryland Department of Human Resources oversees several fatherhood programs to support strong and healthy fathers. The Baltimore Partners for Fragile Families is one of ten national demonstration sites to serve low-income fathers and families who are at risk of welfare dependency. Dad’s Make a Difference is a project aimed to educate youth about the importance of fathers in children’s lives, parental responsibility and deferring parenthood until they are financially and emotionally ready. Maryland’s Access and Visitation Program provides services through non-profit organizations, local department of social services and family courts. Its aim is to focus on advocacy and services for non-custodial fathers including mediated visitation, neutral drop off centers, counseling services, support group activities and parenting contract development. The Responsible Choices Demonstration Project provides home visitation services to young first-time unmarried parents and two-parent families. Participants receive parenting courses, counseling, educational and job skills assistance. The Responsible Fatherhood Demonstration Project provides services to low income, non-custodial fathers of families who are receiving or at risk of receiving temporary cash assistance or other social services. It offers assistance in job skill enhancement, parenting courses, problem resolution and co-parenting skills. The Young Fathers-Responsible Fathers Program provides services to young unwed or expectant fathers. Services address participant educational, vocational, social, emotional and mental health issues. Dads All Deserve Support (DADS) is a group designed to actively support fathers and soon to be fathers in their various roles as a caring adult. This activity-based program looks to connect men with any services necessary to become and remain positive community models.
(Commonwealth of) Pennsylvania Fatherhood Initiative
The Department of Public Welfare’s (DPW) Single Point of Contact/Pregnant
and Parenting Youth program provides services to teen fathers. Non-custodial
dads, ages 18-22, whose children are on welfare, can receive job training,
parenting skills and help earn their GED. DPW is developing fatherhood programs
at eight to 10 Family Centers around the State to provide non-custodial fathers
with education and employment services, peer counseling, parenting and life
skills training. The DPW uses its Access and Visitation grants to enhance
the opportunity for personal contact between non-custodial fathers and their
children. The Domestic Relations Section of the Courts administers the funds
and awards funds through competitive bids to local organizations. The goals
are to strengthen the relationship between non-custodial parents and their
children, to increase child support payments, and to unify families. Services
include mediation, counseling, education, development of parenting plans,
and visitation services. Twenty-eight Private Industry Councils across the
State use a portion of their Welfare-to-Work grants to offer employment,
retention, advancement and training services for non-custodial parents.
The Pennsylvania Fatherhood Initiative includes a number of initiatives aimed at empowering individuals and building communities at the grassroots level. The Pennsylvania Parenting Program (PPP) is a key component of the Pennsylvania Fatherhood Initiative. Projects funded through the PPP grant program, which is funded totally with State dollars, are designed to complement the existing Federal Access and Visitation Grant programs. Monies awarded are used to: increase noncustodial parents’ involvement with their children; improve their parenting skills; increase payment of child support; provide supportive services to parents; and unify families. Services can include peer-mentoring, parenting, life-skills and employment training, legal services and other family assistance. Other departmental initiatives can be viewed on the fatherhood website under the Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Corrections and Board of Probation and Parole, Department of Community and Economic Development, and the Department of Labor and Industry.
TANF: Pennsylvania has been providing intensive case management services, repeat pregnancy prevention, parenting and child development education, homework and tutoring assistance, and other supports that have enabled tens of thousands of expectant and parenting children to stay in school and receive their high school diploma or GED. These and other services have been offered through the Education Leading to Employment and Training (ELECT) Program.
The ELECT Program has been in existence for over ten years. In that time, it was expanded to include:
The EFW Initiative began in April 2000. This initiative extended ELECT services to expectant, custodial and non-custodial parents whose income was under 235 % FPIG and who were not receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families cash assistance benefits. In Fiscal year 2000-01, ELECT and EFW provided services to 2035 young parents. Approximately 85.1% of the seniors, participating in these two initiatives, graduated or returned to school to complete their education.
In January 2001, the ELECT Program was again expanded to provide after school programming for at risk students in grades 4 through 12. This initiative, called ESW, is being piloted in four Local Education Agencies across the state. It provides after school programming, which assists children in reducing and eliminating risky behaviors, and in improving their school attendance and performance. It also provides homework assistance, recreation and sports activities, and age appropriate pregnancy prevention and denial skills training. ESW has been so well received that over 1440 of its 2000 available slots were filled in its first two weeks of operation.
In addition to helping young parents to remain in school and obtain their high school diploma, the ELECT Initiatives have been instrumental in assisting Pennsylvania in reducing out of wedlock pregnancies, helping young fathers to establish paternity, and promoting the formation of two-parent families.
CSE:
Philadelphia County. The Networking for Jobs Program (NJP) is a Family Court initiative designed to provide access to job training and employment opportunities for those least able to obtain these services on their own. The main focus of NJP is to link unemployed, noncustodial parents (NCPs) with at least one child with an active TANF case with the resources they need to enable the NCP to become self-sufficient and better able to pay their support obligations. Although primarily aimed at NCPs with children on welfare, NJP also has limited resources available to non-welfare custodial and non-custodial parents. The Networking for Jobs Program provides parents with: coordinated, comprehensive job training; identification of jobs resources; job banks and information referral systems; assistance in job application and resume preparation; mentoring and support services; alternatives to criminal and delinquent behavior.
The objectives of the Networking for Jobs Program: Change Attitudes; Develop Marketable Jobs Skills; Enable Employment; Increase Amount and Regularity of Child Support Payments.
Pensylvania Parenting Program Grant Services
The Pennsylvania Fatherhood Initiative is part of Pennsylvania’s project
of community building, which includes a number of initiatives aimed at empowering
individuals and building communities at the grassroots level. The Pennsylvania
Parenting Program (PPP) is a key component of the Pennsylvania Fatherhood
Initiative. The goal of the PPP grant is threefold: 1) to strengthen the
relationship between noncustodial parents and their children; 2) to increase
child support payments; and 3) to unify families. The PPP Grant solicits
organizations and agencies to propose projects designed to foster responsible
parenting by developing and administering community-based parenting projects
to support noncustodial parents. In the search for these types of organizations,
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania focuses on programs that will be administered
at the local level where there is a wealth of knowledge regarding the community
and those that reside in or in close proximity of it. Eligible activities
under the PPP Grant include, but are not limited to: visitation services
(both monitored, supervised, therapeutic, and neutral drop-off and pickup);
mediation (both voluntary and mandatory); counseling; education; enhancement
of employment opportunities; development of parenting plans; life-skills
training; peer mentoring; and development of guidelines for visitation and
alternative custody arrangements.
The PPP complements the Federal Access and Visitation Program. In addition, the initiative addresses an ongoing concern of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by targeting regions of the State where there is a demonstrated need for parenting services. The PPP is budgeted to use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program dollars for the support of the fatherhood initiatives under the Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, Purpose Four, encouraging the maintenance and formation of two-parent families.
The grant funds are available through the local Title IV-D agencies (county Domestic Relations Sections) to courts, local public agencies, or nonprofit entities. In January 2001, the Department of Public Welfare awarded $1.5 million in grants to five human services organizations. The projects are selected through a competitive request for proposal process.
The current grant allocation for PPP is $2.6 million, to be distributed over a period of twelve months to service providers throughout Pennsylvania.
| AGENCY NAME | ACTIVITIES |
|---|---|
| Impact Services Corporation | Needs assessments, parenting classes, employment services, service referrals, home visits |
| Community Building Services | Parenting education, job resources, service referrals, support groups, visitation services, mediation, peer mentoring |
| Hill House | Education, parenting services, mentoring, peer support, parent-child activities, counseling, child support arrears subsidy |
| Kids Now — PACT | Mediation, counseling, parenting education, employment assistance, legal assistance, monthly activities to encourage access & visitation |
| Huntingdon County — Parents’ Fair Share | Parenting services, family relations services, employment and income support services |
| County of Fayette — Crime Victim Center & Fayette County Community Action Agency | Supervised visitation, counseling, parent education programs, Roller Coaster programs for children, neutral drop-off & pick-up, support groups |
| Armstrong County DRS/Community Action Agency | Educational services, housing & rental assistance, food bank, employment services |
| Erie County DRS/Erie Family Center | Visitation services, parenting education, neutral drop off/pick up, development of visitation plans, support groups, follow up services, referrals |
| Lawrence County DRS/Family Pathways | Assessments, mediation, support groups, counseling, therapeutic reunification, development of parenting plans, parenting education |
| Butler County/Family Pathways | Assessments, mediation, anger management groups, supervised visitation, therapeutic reunification, develop parenting plans, monitored exchanges, counseling, co-parenting education, community awareness training |
| Lackawanna Dept of Human Services /EOTC | Assessment, orientation, visitation services, therapeutic visitation, neutral drop off/pick up, parenting education, play groups, weekly group meetings, mediation, individual parenting conferences, home visits |
Access and Visitation Grant Program
The Federal Access and Visitation Grant Program was created under section
469B of Title IV-D of the Social Security Act as amended by Title III of
the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)
of 1996, P.L. 104-193 (42 U.S.C. 669b.). PRWORA provides up to $10 million
annually for grants to the states for access and visitation programs. Federal
Access and Visitation Grant funding is provided “to enable states to
establish and administer programs to support and facilitate noncustodial
parents’ access to and visitation of their children.” Eligible
activities include, but are not limited to: mediation (both voluntary and
mandatory), counseling, education, development of parenting plans, visitation
enforcement (including monitoring, supervision, and neutral drop-off and
pickup), and development of guidelines for visitation and alternative custody
arrangements.
The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) has participated in the Federal Access and Visitation Grant Program each year since the program’s inception in September of 1997. The focus and administration of the Pennsylvania Access and Visitation Grant Program will continue unchanged for the distribution of the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2002 funding. The grant funds are available through county Domestic Relations Sections (DRSs) to courts, local public agencies, or nonprofit private entities. The local Title IV-D agencies (county Domestic Relations Sections) are encouraged to sponsor a joint initiative with the Access and Visitation Service providers.
The Access and Visitation Grant Program, with projects currently operating throughout the State, offers services to support, counsel, educate, and challenge noncustodial parents to assist them to become a strong and positive force in the lives of their children. Rather than focusing solely on the fact that children are dependent on their parents for financial and medical support, the programs acknowledge the important contributions that parents make to the emotional and psychological health of their children. Eligible activities include: mediation (both voluntary and mandatory), counseling, education, development of parenting plans, visitation enforcement (including monitoring, supervision, and neutral drop-off and pickup), and development of guidelines for visitation and alternative custody arrangements.
In September 2001, the DPW, Office of Income Maintenance, Bureau of Child Support Enforcement (BCSE), awarded FFY 2000 access and visitation grants to six community-based initiatives. The projects were selected through a competitive request for proposal process. The term of the grant agreement was September 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002. At the end of the initial grant period, DPW decided to initiate the option, under the provisions of the grant agreements, to extend the existing projects using FFY 2001 funding awarded to Pennsylvania.
| GRANTEES | SUBGRANTEES | PROJECT GOALS | ACTIVITIES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armstrong County DRS | Armstrong County Community Action Agency |
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| Allegheny County DRS | University of Pittsburgh – The Office of Child Development |
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| Erie County DRS | Erie County Family Center |
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| Dauphin County DRS | YWCA of Greater Harrisburg |
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| Lackawanna County DRS | Lackawanna County Department of Human Services |
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| Philadelphia County DRD | The Salvation Army |
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The VA Department of Health has instituted a campaign to encourage men to “be a good dad.” The State conducted focus groups with fathers to determine what kinds of materials and media coverage would be most effective. Fathers said they wanted to see ordinary men like themselves. Virginia has designed their public service announcement around the average dad, and has distributed their materials at sporting events, barbershops and other places that young men frequent. There is ongoing collaboration between the Division of Child Support Enforcement, within the Department of Social Services, and the Commonwealth’s Fatherhood Campaign.
Access and Visitation. Virginia opts to administer its program through local government and non-profit private agencies. Services provided to parents include mediation, education, counseling, development of parenting plans, supervised visitation, neutral drop off and pick-up and development of guidelines for visitation and alternative custody arrangements. Contact Bob Owen at 804-692-2407 or email: CRO900@dcse.dss.state.va.us.
TANF. Virginia is using TANF funds to operate its Right Choices for Youth (RCFY) Program, the Opportunity Knocks Program, and the Economic Employment Improvement.
Right Choices for Youth: The overall mission of this initiative is to promote, coordinate, develop and distribute educational and resource elements within the Commonwealth of Virginia that allow young people to make right choices and to avoid risk behaviors in a comprehensive manner, particularly those risks from alcohol, tobacco and drug use and engaging in early sexual activity and violent behavior.
The objective is to build the capacity of state, public and private entities to work with regional, community/local entities to implement and carry out comprehensive youth risk behavior prevention programs. These programs may include, but are not limited to, mentoring, life skills, job preparation/career development, social skills and abstinence education. Their focus includes strengthening of parent-child communications, promotion and enhancement of marriage and the marital relationship, promotion of responsible and involved fatherhood and development of parenting skills.
The Virginia Department of Health has been designated as the lead agency for this initiative. The initiative provides non-assistance services and benefits related to TANF purposes 3 (prevent and reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies) and 4 (encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families).
Funding is from the Federal TANF grant. The program targets middle and high school youth and adults who influence the youth population. This program is available to all citizens of Virginia without regard to family status or income.
For more information on this program contact Mark Golden, TANF Program Manager, at (804) 692-1731 or mxg2@dss.state.va.us.
Opportunity Knocks Program: This program is designed to improve the employability of disadvantaged persons through education and skills training. Services provided by grantees include training programs designed to meet specific employer needs, possible wage paying activities and employment and career paths that provide higher paying wages and benefits. The training programs also include job training, work-study, internship, apprenticeship, job shadowing and pert-time employment. The goal is to provide transitional assistance, which moves individuals into lasting unsubsidized employment leading to economic self-sufficiency.
The program provides non-assistance services and benefits related to TANF purpose 2 (end dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work and marriage). Funding is from the Federal TANF grant. The program will augment educational and employment options available to disadvantaged youth and those at-risk (ages 18-25). Individuals must be TANF recipients or qualify as TANF eligible – income not to exceed 200% of FPL (including non-custodial parents). An RFP was issued statewide. The program operates in the following sites:
For more information on this program contact Faye Palmer, Welfare to Work Manager, at (804) 692-1065 or afp900@email1.dss.state.va.us.
Economic Employment Improvement Program for Disadvantaged Persons: This program is designed to improve the employability of disadvantaged persons returning to the community from federal and state correctional facilities, the chronically unemployed and those displaced by technical advances in industry. Services provided by grantees include training programs designed to meet specific employer needs, possible wage paying activities and employment and career paths that provide higher paying wages and benefits. The training programs also include job training, work-study, internship, apprenticeship, job shadowing and pert-time employment. The goal is to provide transitional assistance, which moves individuals into lasting unsubsidized employment leading to economic self-sufficiency.
The program provides non-assistance services and benefits related to TANF purpose 2 (end dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work and marriage). Individuals must be TANF recipients or qualify as TANF eligible — income not to exceed 200% of FPL (including non-custodial parents). An RFP was issued statewide. The program operates in the following sites:
For more information on this program contact Faye Palmer, Welfare to Work Manager, at (804) 692-1065 or afp900@email1.dss.state.va.us.
The Virginia Fatherhood Campaign (VFC)
Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE)
Access and Visitation. West Virginia commissioned a statewide survey of noncustodial parents as a way to ascertain the barriers to child access and visitation. Summary results of the survey indicated that visitation might be easier to expedite if there were more educational resources available to noncustodial and custodial parents regarding visitation rights, in addition, to the opportunity for voluntarily negotiating a parenting agreement as an alternative to court. The need for supervised visitation and neutral drop-off and pick-up sites were also reported. Contact Susan Perry at (304) 558-0909.
TANF
West Virginia Fatherhood and Families Conference
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services co-sponsored a
Fatherhood and Families Conference with the Region III Office of the
Administration of Children and Families and the West Virginia Department
of Labor on June 5, 2003 at the Charleston, West Virginia Convention Center.
Fatherhood and Family Community Service practitioners throughout the State
were invited to attend the Conference.
The focus of the Conference was for the attendees to determine where they are as a group helping fathers and families and where they intend to go.
Speakers included Bill Coffin, ACF who spoke on Fatherhood and the National Healthy Families Initiative, Neil Tift, National Practioners Network for Fathers and Families, who spoke on the National Fatherhood Initative and David Lett, Regional Administrator ACF, Region III who discussed State Initiatives and available Federal funding.
Child Support and TANF
The West Virginia Bureau for Child Support Enforcement (BCSE), WV Bureau
for Children and Families (TANF), WV Bureau for Employment Programs (BEP),
the Human Resource Development Foundation, and the Domestic Violence Coalition
have formed a partnership to fund and support a pilot initiative called Parents
Work/Families Win. Parents Work/Families Win Program is operated by Human
Resource Development Foundation and is designed to assist unemployed and/or
under-employed individuals to obtain employment that will enable them to
meet their child support obligations and develop strong, positive relationships
with their children.
In September 2000, the West Virginia Bureau for Child Support Enforcement (BCSE) entered into a cooperative agreement with BEP and HRDF. This agreement allows the BCSE to provide a list of non-custodial parents who may be eligible for the program. Non-custodial parents must have a child who is eligible for TANF, Food Stamps, Medicaid, Social Security or Children’s Health Insurance Program, and owe $500.00 or more in arrears to be eligible for the program. Eligible participants will be offered assistance with employment, transportation, special needs, car repairs and insurance, professional licenses, counseling and relocation services if necessary. Parents Work/ Families Win actually kicked off in January 2001 and is now Statewide.
The initial goal was to serve fifty non-custodial parents. As of March 8, 2002, fifty-seven non-custodial parents were actually served. Ten of the fifty-seven exited (refused to participate) the program, one requested an extension due to extenuating circumstances, twenty-six are in training/seeking employment, twenty have obtained employment, and twenty-one paid child support averaging $129.92.
In addition to PWFW, BSCE is also working with New Connections, a local non-profit group, to provide paternity and child support education to young fathers in a friendly, non-threatening environment. These consultations are provided upon request. To date, West Virginia has conducted four sessions with young fathers, approximately, once a quarter.
The WV Bureau for Child Support Enforcement signed a cooperative agreement with Northern Panhandle Workforce Investment Board, Inc. for Welfare to Work for non-custodial parents. This agreement covers Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler Counties. Right now, there are very limited restrictions on the non-custodial parents to be eligible for this program. BSCE is the referral agency, much in the same way that WV Works is the referral agency for TANF Welfare to Work candidates.
For more information regarding West Virginia’s Fatherhood Initiatives, please contact Rita Dobrich, TANF Program Manger, at (304) 558-5202, or Mary S. Bolten, Paternity Outreach Coordinator, at (304) 558-3716.
Teen Pregnancy Prevention
The West Virginia Bureau for Child Support Enforcement recently developed
a video and curriculum “Get More”, which was funded by an 1115
Demonstration Grant from the Administration for Children and Families, Office
of Child Support Enforcement. The video and curriculum is targeted for students
in grades 7 -12 to reduce the number of adolescents who become parents before
they are physically, emotionally and financially ready. The overall goal
of the project is to join forces with numerous public and private entities
to reduce the number of out of wedlock births to teens by 1/3 by 2010. Other
goals of the project are: (l) provide education about paternity, child support,
adolescent pregnancy prevention and other realities of teen parenting; and
(2) to expose 1,000 adolescents to paternity establishment and adolescent
pregnancy prevention education annually. The Bureau for Child Support Enforcement
collaborated with teen parents, Kanawha and Cabell County high schools, the
State Department of Education’s Office of Healthy Schools, and the Bureau
for Public Health’s Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Initiative and
Abstinence Only Education Programs in an attempt to produce a well-rounded
program. Educators will be able to implement the curricula in the 2003-2004
school year. Contact Mary S. Bolton, Project Manager, Bureau for Child Support
Enforcement at (304) 558-3716, for further information.
[ Go to Map ]
(Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee)
Deric Gilliard
Intergovernmental Affairs Specialist
Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center
61 Forsyth Street, SW, Suite 5B95
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8909
Phone: 404-562-7910
Fax: 404-562-4197
Robert Richie
Program Manager
Child Support and Developmental Disabilities
Administration for Children and Families
Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center
61 Forsyth Street, S.W., Suite 4M60
Atlanta, GA 30303-8909
Phone: 404 562-2958
FAX: 404 562-2985
The Region IV Fatherhood and Male Involvement program, started in 1993, focuses on partnering with other agencies to increase the participation of fathers and other significant males in Head Start programs to develop effective strategies for strengthening males through the development of intervention and prevention programs.
The program’s purpose is to provide support, mentoring, training and technical assistance services through local level communication and coordination among Family Planning, TANF, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, public and private sectors, state, federal and other organizations. These partners are working to encourage non-respondent fathers’ involvement with the lives of their children as part of the child support strategies, establish paternity, educate men in family planning and health strategies, leadership, life skills, family, self-sufficiency, mentoring services, etc.
In September, 2002, Region IV successfully implemented the Fatherhood and Positive Youth Development initiatives in each of the eight States. A total of 32 proposals were funded at a cost of $706,000. The Regional Office supplemented the $500,000 provided by Central Office with $206,000. The average funding level for each proposal was $22,063. Each successful proposal met not only the criteria established by Central Office but Regional criteria as well. Each State was funded for at least two projects.
Access and Visitation. Alabama provides an advisory group to coordinate agency and interest groups for the discussion of access and visitation issues to point the way for improved programs and policies including custody and visitation statutes. They will also train judges and staff on access and visitation issues. The program operates four pilot projects on mediation and parental education for a primarily unwed population in rural and urban settings. Contact Peg Walker at (334) 242-0300
TANF. Alabama TANF funds will provide funding for a Fatherhood Initiative that will be transferred to the Children’s Trust Fund (CTF) over the next two years to establish and oversee the program. Plans are to fund community projects to prevent early and unplanned fatherhood, strengthen relationships between fathers and children, and to increase child support payments by providing work and training opportunities. Additionally, Alabama has three fatherhood activities that are funded under the Welfare-to-Work program that targets the hardest-to-employ welfare recipients.
(State of) Florida Commission on Marriage and Family Support Initiatives
(Formerly Florida Commission on Responsible Fatherhood)
Phone: 850-488-4952
www.floridafathers.org/
Matthew D. Munyon, Executive Director
The Florida Commission on Responsible Fatherhood’s goals are to raise public awareness of problems created when a child grows up without a responsible father present, identify obstacles that impede or prevent the involvement of responsible fathers in the lives of their children, and promote successful strategies to encourage responsible fatherhood. Ten million dollars in TANF funds are being administered by the Florida Commission on Responsible Fatherhood to fund local efforts to help fathers remain involved with their children. Information on the Commissions new Responsibilities will be posted as soon as available.
TANF. In Florida, the local WAGES (Work and Gain Economic Self-Sufficiency) coalitions that administer the TANF program are funding programs targeting fathers, including employment-focused programs that require that fathers [who are delinquent in child support] find work or go to jail. Another project targets fathers of Head Start children for help with computer training, entrepreneurial skills and self-empowerment.
(State of) Georgia Fatherhood Initiative
Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education
1800 Century Place, Suite 400
Atlanta, Georgia 30345
Phone: 404-679-1600
Fax: 404-679-1675
http://www.ganet.org/GAFatherhood/
Frances Barry, Director
The Fatherhood Initiative, created in 1997 by DHR’s Child Support Enforcement office, uses State TANF and title XX funding to work with non-custodial parents who have a case with CSE and are unable or unwilling to pay their child support. The program offers: job counseling and placement assistance; placement into GED programs if needed; vocational training; classes on life-coping skills; and classes to strengthen parenting skills. CSE has entered into contracts with the Department of Technical and Adult Education to provide the range of services noncustodial parents need to get a job or move up the career ladder. Both TANF and Tittle XX-Social Services Block Grant funds are being used for this initiative.
Access and Visitation. Mississippi works with parents at Head Start centers and child welfare offices in an effort to help them develop parenting plans via mediation services. In addition, Mississippi also makes available supervised visitation services and information on the consequences of divorce as it affects children. Contact Pat Oluade at (601) 359-4873.
TANF. Mississippi has proposed using TANF funds for new initiatives for the hard-to-serve population. In FY 2000, $1.9 million was earmarked for Fatherhood Initiatives. The goal is to increase the involvement of fathers in the lives of their children and to provide supportive services to help fathers become more self-sufficient.
TANF. North Carolina is allowing counties to submit proposals to run their own fatherhood programs with TANF funds.
Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina Fatherhood
Initiative
Phone: 803-254-0230
www.sistersofcharitysc.com
Patricia Littlejohn, Program Officer
The Sisters of Charity Foundation provides grant funds, technical assistance and other resources for community and faith-based groups, organizations and other non-profits whose efforts address the fundamental causes of poverty in South Carolina. The Foundation has embarked on a six-year state wide Fatherhood Initiative to strengthen the role of fathers and fragile families in the state. They have information and resources available to the community on the importance of fathers in families; the impact of fatherlessness; and other fatherhood programs.
Access and Visitation. South Carolina’s access and visitation initiative is referred to as the VIP Program (visitation, involvement, and parenting). One component of the VIP Program includes pilot programs in both urban and rural counties. This is in addition to on-going Statewide access and visitation initiatives. The primary services provided to the two counties include the development of a curriculum (Caring For Our Child) and the establishment of workshops for custodial and noncustodial parents as a way of assisting parents in the development of parenting plans and skills in parenting partnerships. Contact Marvin Lare at (803) 898-7657.
TANF. South Carolina uses TANF funds for three programs that deal with parenting and pregnancy prevention for the couple, not specifically fatherhood. The Teen Companion Program is for youth who have never parented. The specific goals are to prevent pregnancies, reduce the youth dropout rate and increase options for self-sufficiency. The Youth Parent Program is for youth receiving FI benefits who are pregnant or parenting. The specific goals of this component are to reduce subsequent pregnancies, increase the number of students who return to school, increase options for self-sufficiency, reduce the need for Child Protective Services, and reduce low birth weight and prenatal defects. The Country Grants Fund for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives (APP) uses TANF funds to assist non-Medicaid or FI youth who have never parented. The program supports local efforts to prevent early sexual activity and to reduce the rate of adolescent pregnancy in each county. Initiatives emphasize sexual abstinence and male responsibility.
Access and Visitation. Tennessee invested its access and visitation funds in pilot projects in six judical districts. The purposes of these six pilots were to test the feasibility of requiring divorcing parents of minors to attend at least four hours of parent education; to mediate or negotiate a parenting plan that includes child visitation specifics; and to attempt to mediate any post-divorce disputes. Based on the successful results of these pilot projects, this requirement has become State law effective January 2001. Contact David Gilliam at (615) 313-4880.
TANF. Tennessee has been using TANF funds for its Fatherhood pilot project in Davidson County (Nashville) since implementation of its waiver/TANF plan in 1996.
[ Go to Map ]
(Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin)
Joyce A. Thomas
ACF Regional Administrator, Region 5
233 North Michigan Ave, Suite 400
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: 312-353-4237
Fax: 312-353-2204
Corey R. Hoze
HHS Regional Director, Region 5
233 North Michigan, Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: 312-353-5160
Mary Jackson
Team Administrator
Administration for Children and Families
233 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 400
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: 312-353-7022
Fax: 312-353-2629
Geneva Bishop
Program Specialist
Administration for Children and Families
233 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 400
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: 312-353-8416
Fax: 312-353-2204
Janice Ely, RPC
Regional Program Consultant
Office of the Regional Health Administrator
233 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: 312-886-3864
Fax: 312-353-7800
The Region V Fatherhood Initiative continues to support the collaborative relationships developed over the past several years. Region V partners have taken the initiative to a point where fatherhood activities are integrated into regular programming. Fatherhood is incorporated into monitoring and technical assistance contacts with program administrators. We are encouraged that our work has resulted in removal of barriers to services for fathers in all of our ACF programs. Indicative of Region V Head Start’s enhanced role is the substantial commitment in resources made toward the Fatherhood priority. Fifty-one grantees received funds to support new special initiatives on Fatherhood/Male Involvement and Early Literacy.
On June 2, 2003, the ACF Regional Office held an invitational Tri-State meeting of the ACF Healthy Marriage Initiative. One of the speakers, Rozario Slick of the First Things First (FTF) organization in Chattanooga, Tennessee, focused his remarks on the FTF’s fatherhood component and the importance of a Father in ensuring a child’s development and well being.
Support and monitoring of Early Head Start Fatherhood Demonstration Grants in Region V. The Regional Office hosts a quarterly conference call for EHS fatherhood grantees with the Illinois Child Support program, a recipient of a Child Support/HS collaboration grant. Funding for the grant has ended, but collaborative activities are continuing. The Indiana Head Start Collaboration director has agreed to participate in these calls.
Regional office staff supports the Illinois Non-Custodial Parent Services Fatherhood/Male Involvement Collaboration by attending quarterly meetings and taking active roles on committees.
Wabash Area Development, Inc., a community action agency and Head Start grantee, has taken the lead in supporting Fatherhood activities for Illinois HS grantees in cooperation with the State of Illinois Child Support program. During this year, workshops have been conducted throughout the State to assist grantees in developing and implementing fatherhood programs and enhancing partnerships with the child support and child care networks.
Regional Office staff developed fatherhood workshops for the Illinois Fatherhood Initiative Training Conference, the Region V Head Start Association, and the Illinois Head Start Association. A workshop on paternity establishment was presented at the Midwest Hub Youth Conference in June 2002.
Regional Office staff support community forums and annual town hall meetings in Chicago sponsored by Rep. Danny K. Davis, 7th Congressional District, Illinois.
Ongoing discussions have been held with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) on fatherhood issues. As part of an effort to more effectively locate fathers as potential placement resources, DCFS has contracted for the development of two Diligent Search Service Centers.
The Illinois Fatherhood Initiative presented “Team Dad” awards to Joyce A. Thomas, ACF Regional Administrator, and Kay Willmoth, Director of the ACF Regional Office’s Office of Family and Child Development. The awards were made in recognition of Regional Office support of fatherhood issues and concerns.
Region V recognizes the importance of multi-year planning for all priorities and the Fatherhood Initiative will be on the agenda of the Region V Fatherhood Workgroup. Region V has identified three key areas:
We will soon collect and disseminate the many accomplishments, Best Practices, Lessons Learned and suggestions for replication. As grantees began and enhanced their programs in 2003, hopes of success and high participation expectations took center stage. As the programs’ grant periods come to an end with the close of 2003, Region V will encourage grantee efforts to share program results and outcomes. The tracking and evaluations of each of the grant awardees will help all programs make plans for 2003-2004.
Wisconsin Fatherhood Conference Held March 7-8, 2003:
"The Father Factor: In Children, Families, and Communities"
Info: Conference
Brochure in PDF format.
Host: Milwaukee Fatherhood Collaborative
For more information, contact Sherry Hill at 414-445-7588.
Region V ACF Deputy Regional Administrator James McCullum delivered the conference’s first day luncheon presentation on the HHS/ACF Fatherhood Initiative, providing information on the initiative, fatherhood programming resources, and ACF’s key priorities.
Ohio Fatherhood Conference, Father’s Matter: Promoting Growth of
the Fatherhood Initiative in Ohio, May 29-30, 2003.
Sponsored by the Center for Families and Children, Columbus, Ohio.
www.c4fc.org/fathersmatter.
Approaches vary a great deal, but increasing numbers of grantees have utilized “father-friendly assessment” tools and followed through to act on the results of the assessment. This instrument helps programs to identify barriers to fathers’ participating fully in their activities. It was developed in Region V. The Father Friendliness Organizational Self-assessment and Planning Tool can be found on the National Head Start Association’s web site at http://www.nhsa.org/parents/parents_father_assess.htm.
Local Head Start programs have made their facilities more welcoming by putting up photos, posters, father-male focused bulletin boards, and by adding reading areas with materials about the importance of fathers’ roles. Programs welcome support from their Policy Council male membership, male Head Start or child care staff, male state agency staff, community leaders and former Head Start fathers and grandfathers. Home Visitors are important recruiters and also emergent literacy advisors for dads in the home-teaching arena. Children often participate in designing, writing, and delivering materials inviting males to join father/child events. These materials include invitations to the events, brochures, billboards, posters, letters, newsletters, and newspaper articles.
A male role model survey indicated the top 4 events that the men would be interested in are as follows:
According to the survey, the best time for these events are nights or weekends. On March 21, 2002, the program held a "Fast Track to Fatherhood" Car Night. 51 males attend with their children. The evening covered basic car mechanics (for the adults), Safety Bear presentations (car seat safety), hands on art activities: decorate your own race car, a transportation collage, etc. The local Fire Dept. came with a truck, the Sheriff Dept. with a car, the local k-9 unit, a school bus and a train for the kids to ride. Car related door prizes were donated by local businesses.
Erie-Huron Community Action Council Head Start in Sandusky, Ohio, held a Male Model Fashion show with Head Start Dads and their sons. Human Development Commission Head Start in Caro, Michigan has combined fatherhood activities with literacy activities.
Regional Office staff support the partners for fragile families demonstration projects in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Director of the Indianapolis, Indiana project made a presentation to ACF Regional Office staff on the project activities in March 2003.
The Regional Office fact sheet, “Child Support From the Father’s Side” has been updated and is available for distribution. Young males are the target audience. Contact Geneva Bishop, 312-886-8416, for an electronic version.
Because the special initiatives fatherhood/male involvement programs focus on literacy, emergent literacy and early childhood development, new linkages are forming with diverse partners. The possibilities for partners are extensive: libraries; state extension offices; school principals and PTAs; regional, state, county and city agencies; faith-based organizations; mental health agencies and private practitioners; family support organizations and Parents Anonymous; colleges; adult education groups, literacy and computer literacy schools and programs; fraternal organizations such as Alpha Phi Alpha and fatherhood organizations. Some unique cooperative ventures are being formed, such as with state Departments of Transportation and Departments of Natural Resources, which are proving to be very productive. Carefully developed partnerships enable local Head Starts to customize programs for their particular children, fathers, families and inter-generational interests.
The Administration for Children and Families, Region V, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in March, 2003, and participated in the organization’s regional conference. The MOU provides a framework for ACF and Alpha Phi Alpha to collaborate and stimulate fatherhood initiatives with Head Start grantees. As a result, local chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha will target grantees in select communities and provide technical assistance, training and mentoring in fatherhood/male involvement activities.
The Region Vb Head Start technical assistance provider hosts the Head Start/Child Support/Child Care Collaboration web page. This page includes information on fatherhood activities and can be accessed from http://www.regionvqnet.org/2gether4kids. For more information contact Lois Rakov, ACF, 312-353-4237.
Examples of other state activities include: Toledo, OH - A calendar with photos of dad and kids and quotes on responsible fatherhood (copy available). Washtenaw, MI - Males from the community regularly come in and read with the children - (newspaper clipping available.) The Jackson, MI HS agency is participating in the EHS fatherhood demonstration project. They hosted a Michigan-wide fatherhood conference on June 15. Mike Singletary was the keynote speaker at this event. For more information, contact Franklin Marfia, 312-886-4925.
In some Region V states, early fatherhood/male involvement programs developed as part of Head Start/Child Support Collaboration grants provide more than five years of “lessons learned.” The OCSE-funded collaboration grants were awarded to six states. Two of the six states (Minnesota and Illinois) are in Region V.
The Minnesota Head Start, Child Care, and Child Support State and Local Collaboration Project focused in areas represented by four Head Start grantees, twelve county child support offices, twelve county child care assistance programs, and five local child care resource and referral agencies. The area encompassed both rural and metropolitan areas in Minnesota. This geographic area is also home to several Native American sovereign nations. For information concerning the program or its Final Report, contact Deborah Kreger, Deborah. Kreger@state.mn.us.
The Illinois Final Report, “Illinois Head Start/Child Care/Child Support: Making a Difference in Children’s Lives” is available. For information, contact Joseph Mason, (312) 793-0193.
On April 23, 2003, the Region V Administrator met with Region V Child Support IV-D Directors and their representatives in Chicago and encouraged the continuation of the Head Start/Child Care/Child Support collaborations that have been developed. The Administrator emphasized the need to build new links and partnerships, to promote the establishment of legal paternity and to participate in enhanced collaborations, cross-training and information sharing.
On June 17, 2003, the Region V Office will host a quarterly conference call for Child support, EHS and Head Start grantees with fatherhood and male involvement programs. Participants will include representatives from Minnesota, Indiana and Illinois.
As a result of ACF presentations at association meetings and developments within the state, the Michigan Head Start Association sponsored a Fatherhood conference on April 10-11, 2003. This event reached out to the academic world for presentations, and two hundred participants, representing a cross section of agencies including Friend of the Court, Circuit Court Judges, Community Mental Health, Intermediate School Districts Extension service as well as HS grantees, learned about recent research findings in this area. About one-third of the participants were fathers on scholarship paid for by foundations. The First Gentleman of Michigan, Mr. Grandholm, made his first public appearance in that role; this is an issue that he is interested in his own right. The Governor has placed emphasis on support to parents as part of her Child Action Network initiative. This indicates a link between the Good Start, Grow Smart and the fatherhood initiatives, which we can further explore.
Illinois Fatherhood Initiative
Phone: 800-996-DADS
http://www.4fathers.com
James Peglia, President
Peter VanVeen, Executive Director
Tony Hayek, Operations Manager
The Illinois Fatherhood Initiative was the country’s first statewide nonprofit, volunteer organization promoting father involvement in the lives of children. The initiative’s activities include the publication of the "Illinois Fathers Resource Guide," a yearly calendar, and a children’s essay contest about fathers, “What My Father Means to Me.” Over 50,000 essays were submitted to the IFI from school children in Illinois on the subject, “What My Father Means to Me.” The Regional Office sponsored a volunteer reading center to read some of 50,000 essays Phone: (800) 996-DADS, www.4fathers.com, Peter Van Veen, Executive Director, (312) 920-9590.
Access and Visitation. Illinois provides mediation, counseling, parent education, and the development of parenting plans as one of many services related to child access and visitation. This is accomplished in conjunction with one county where there is a responsible fatherhood/fragile family project designed to assist low-income, unwed fathers in securing full-time employment and in becoming actively involved in their children’s lives. The contact is Joseph Mason, who can be reached at (312) 793-0193.
On September 12, 2003, at the Packard Plaza in Peoria, The Illinois Access and Visitation Programs present “Family Reunion”, bringing together non-traditional families though access and visitation programs. The Keynote speaker will be Dr. Kirk E. Harris, Director of Public Policy and Community Building, Family Support America. The Circuit Courts of Cook, DuPage, and Peoria Counties will present their programs. Funding for this event is provided by the Federal Office of Child Support Region V and the Illinois Department of Public Aid. The contact person is Sheila Murphy Russell, (630) 784-6060, Sheila.MurphyRussell@dupageco.org.
In May 2003, Regional Office staff met with Dr. Kirk Harris of Family Support America, and other community service providers, to discuss fatherhood issues and Federal priorities in this area.
The Ounce of Prevention Fund and Region V ACF cosponsored a conference on the "First Years of Life" — Making Connections, Sharing Strategies, Enhancing Services — on September 19-20, 2002 in Chicago, Illinois. The well attended conference included several workshops on fatherhood related issues.
(State of) Indiana Fathers and Families
Phone: 317-232-4924
http://www.State.in.us/fathers
Indiana Head Start Collaboration is holding a conference including fatherhood subjects on September 22, 2003 in Indianapolis. For further information, contact Donna Hogle, Indiana Head Start State Collaboration Office, (317) 233-6837, dhogle@fssa.state.inj.us.
The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) Division of Family and Children, has initiated Indiana Fathers & Families to support community-based efforts to help promote and restore a better quality of life for fathers and their families. Activities include: project funding; dissemination of information on Indiana Fathers & Families, technical assistance opportunities, and other information that fosters the effective delivery of services focused on restoring fatherhood and renewing families; development of a statewide Indiana Fathers & Families Work Group; and development of partnerships between State and local government bodies, non-government organizations, businesses, local planning bodies, and individuals involved in promoting and restoring fatherhood in Indiana. In 2002, the State awarded $566,000 from TANF funds and $182,000 from Access and Visitation funds to community and faith-based agencies. The awards ranged from $25,000 to $30,000 dollars.
The Indiana Head Start Collaboration Office produced a video entitled “Indiana Dads Talk”. The Indiana Head Start Collaboration is holding a conference September 22, 2003 entitled “The Role of the Father in the Family”. The contact for both items is Donna Hogle, Collaboration Office Director at 317-233-6837 (http://www.in.gov/fssa/fathers/).
Michigan has established three pilot programs, each in 5 local offices, to address fatherhood and marriage issues. The first, Effective Parenting, exempts certain families from the state’s work requirements when it is determined they can better benefit from participating in a parenting education program. The second pilot, Encouraging Family Formation, requires parents of newborns 6-12 weeks old to attend 24 hours of programming on marriage, fatherhood, and parenting. The third pilot, Fatherhood, pays for paternity testing in an effort to reach 100% paternity establishment. The pilot projects are expected to terminate as of September 30, 2003.
TANF. Michigan provides employment services to non-custodial parents who are employed or underemployed in order to enable them to meet their responsibilities to support their children.
In May 2003, ACF approved an 1115 Child Support demonstration waiver for the State of Michigan. The demonstration project, centered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will test new strategies to support healthy marriage and parental relationships with the goals of improving the well-being of children, promoting paternity establishment, and increasing financial and emotional support to children.
The Michigan Head Start Association sponsored a Fatherhood Conference on April 10-11, 2003, in Lansing Michigan.
The Jackson Michigan Head Start agency, an Early Head Start demonstration fatherhood grantee, hosted a Michigan-wide fatherhood conference on June 15, 2003. Males from the community regularly come in and read with the children.
The Minnesota Fathers & Families Network announces the opening of its network office in Northeast Minneapolis on June 25 at an Open House at 1700 Second Street, Northeast, Minneapolis. The Minnesota Fathers & Families Network, www.mnfathers.org, is dedicated to initiating and promoting effective programs and public policy that enhances the responsible involvement of fathers in the lives of children, families and the community. For more information, contact: pmasiarchin@mnfathers.org or (612) 787-4091.
Use of TANF Funds. In 1999 the State began using TANF funds to support the Parents’ Fair Share (PFS) program, which operates in three counties (Ramsey, Anoka, and Dakota). The program serves low-income non-custodial parents (predominantly men) in a number of ways: 1) work and employment counseling, 2) parenting counseling, 3) peer group support, and 4) substance abuse treatment referrals. If the custodial parent is receiving TANF, the non-custodial parent may have his support order lowered for a period of time providing he is participating in the PFS program. If the custodial parent is not receiving TANF, the support order can only be lowered with the custodial parent’s consent.
Family Law Clinics - One of the most exciting things happening at the local level in Minnesota are the Family Law Clinics. Parents and interested others are invited to listen to a panel discuss various aspects of family law. Panelists may include a child support magistrate, county attorney, local attorney, guardian ad litem, social worker, child support staff, mediation specialist, and victims advocate. Questions are also taken from the audience. Sponsors of the law clinics include child support, Head Start, Community Action programs, and the faith community. The panelists donate their time, and community agencies and businesses also donate space and goods. Many of the counties are also putting together Attorney Law Clinics. The counties are sharing information with each other and replicating the workshops. They are using many local resources to overcome money barriers. In one community, the local parish offers their parish hall for no charge as long as it is left in good condition. They were also able to secure pop/soda beverages from a local distribution company for free -broken cases that could not be sold.
Outreach to incarcerated parents - State child support staff has teamed with correctional facilities to provide much needed information to incarcerated parents. In addition to providing information on modification requests at the time of incarceration, staff also attends transition fairs, conducts information sessions, and follows up on specific case issues. Resource materials specific to this population have been developed.
Minnesota has also developed resource materials for counties to aid in building relationships. These resources include:
Minnesota’s Fatherhood Notebook also contains a handout on "Tips for Building Working Relationships with Other Community Agencies and Businesses - Sharing Knowledge and Maximizing Resources to Better Serve Families Using Child Support Services". Contact Deborah Kreger, Minnesota Child Support at 651-296-5737.
Ohio Head Start Association, Inc’s 28th Annual Training Conference and Retreat, June 9-13, 2003, focused on fatherhood at several workshops. The pre-conference session, “Begin Where You Are” included a special presentation on the Male Perspective. A conference workshop, “Creating a Father Friendly Environment,” concentrated on the significance of having an environment that is non-threatening to the father or males in the lives of Head Start children.
TANF Funding. The State distributes TANF funding to each of the Counties in Ohio, and they, in turn, plan and provide the services needed for TANF families. While it is difficult to know exactly what each County has done in terms of Fatherhood initiatives, they do have some interesting statistics on the numbers of non-custodial parents related to TANF cases that have received various services from the Counties through their TANF funding. In the first three quarters of State Fiscal Year 2002 (July, ’01--March ’02), 2,865 non-custodial parents have been served by the Counties around the State. Of these, 2,823 adults have received family counseling, employment services, domestic violence and chemical abuse treatment and education and training with the goal of providing fuller employment and stable family participation and ultimately more and better child support obligations. The remaining 42 cases are teen parents and youth that have participated in education, training and counseling programs aimed at education completion and healthy family formation. Virtually all of this funding is TANF dollars spent in individual County programs. The State encourages the Counties to use TANF funds for marriage formation, fatherhood counseling and improved participation in employment to meet child support obligations.
(State of) Wisconsin Fatherhood Initiative
Phone: 608-266-1212
http://www.dwd.State.wi.us/wifatherhood
A Wisconsin Fatherhood Conference was held March 7-8, 2003 looking at "The Father Factor In Children, Families, and Communities."
As a result of an Executive Order by Governor Tommy Thompson in August of 1998, the Fatherhood Initiative of Wisconsin was authorized. That Executive Order was followed by the Governor’s call for a Summit Meeting on Fatherhood issues, culminating in a statewide conference on Fatherhood in May of 1999. At that meeting, different State and local public and private agencies, and corporations, were asked to become involved in fatherhood programs and to make firm sponsorship commitments to such efforts in their communities. Following that, some 20 different entities, combined with government resources, came together to jointly sponsor a number of programs.
The most notable of these were the training and employment service programs for over 4,000 non-custodial and custodial parents, sponsored principally with corporate contributions and funds from the TANF and DOL Welfare-to-Work programs. That initial effort has led to the TANF funding (approximately $1,140,000 per year) of employment services for non-custodial parents under the Children First program and the use of $12.7 million from the DOL Welfare-to-Work Program over the last several years to support employment projects, education and training programs, and a number of healthy family formation counseling efforts throughout the State. Federal and State support continues to fund Fatherhood Initiatives throughout the State with some 43 Counties having specific Fatherhood projects working to provide services to both custodial and non-custodial fathers and to strengthen their family responsibilities and connections.
Excellent Fatherhood programs are found in Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Madison and the Rhinelander-Oneida areas. There is also a State Children’s Trust Fund grant program underway to provide small ($4,000) seed money grants to local communities throughout the State to plan and establish viable Fatherhood projects.
Head Start Wisconsin held a summit on Fatherhood in the State’s Head Start Programs at Oshkosh, WI, June 27-28, 2002. Keynote topics were the Importance of Fathers and What Head Start Programs Need to be Successful in Fatherhood Services. Work shop sessions included: Potential Partners to Support Fatherhood Programs; Head Start Fathers Tell Their Stories; Showcase of Current Head Start Programs; The Fatherhood Toolkit; Legal Issues of Fatherhood; How to Involve Mothers in Fatherhood Services; and Parenting for Dads. For information about this event contact Bill Welch, Region Va QNet Program Specialist, (800) 862-3725, ext. 243, email: welchb@cesa5.k12.wi.us.
On December 12, 2002, the Opportunities Industrialization Center of Greater Milwaukee convened a conference on healthy marriage and family formation - a day of community assessment and planning. Part of the conference agenda focused on the importance of fatherhood and fatherhood programs. Region V ACF Regional Administrator Joyce A. Thomas delivered an overview of Federal program priorities and legislative matters, and provided information on fatherhood resources.
Male Involvement Projects
For the past three years, the Office of Population Affairs/Office of Family
Planning (OPA/OFP) has funded programs that address family planning and
reproductive health information and service for males. While research shows
that young men recognize unintended pregnancy, STD’s and HIV/AIDS as
serious problems, and acknowledge that prevention is a joint responsibility,
experience has shown that drawing them into family planning/reproductive
health information and service programs requires approaches that focus on
their needs. The OPA/OFP projects are intended to integrate family planning
service and education into programs where young males are already receiving
other health, education and social services. Several steps have been taken
and are planned to more fully involve males with reproductive health:
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(Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas)
Julia Lothrop
Intergovernmental Affairs Specialist
Department of Health and Human Services
1301 Young Street, Suite 1124
Dallas, TX 75202
Phone: 214-767-3525
Fax: 214-767-3617
Ford Blunt
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
Department of Health and Human Services
1301 Young Street, Suite 714
Dallas, TX 75202
Phone: 214-767-6279
Fax: 214-767-6400
Tomasia Pinter
Administration for Children and Families
Department of Health and Human Services
1301 Young Street, Suite 914
Dallas, TX 75202
Phone: 214-767-2972
Fax: 214-767-8890
Evelyn Glass
Office of Family Planning
Department of Health and Human Services
1301 Young Street, Suite 766
Dallas, TX 75202
Phone: 214-767-3088
Fax: 214-767-3425
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) (Regions IV and VI) with support from the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, held a workshop on non-custodial parents on January 18 and 19, 2001, in Tallahassee, Florida. Workshop participants included individuals representing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) from the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.
The purpose of the workshop, Addressing the Needs of Non-Custodial Parents in TANF Families, was to build a common language and understanding of the issues surrounding welfare reform and non-custodial parents. In particular, promoting inter-agency collaborative strategies that effectively engage non-custodial parents-financially and emotionally-with their children. The workshop addressed the following issues:
It is estimated that one-third of the children in the United States live in a household headed by a single parent. Many of these children do not have a positive relationship with their fathers. Recent studies suggest that poverty and the lack of strong bonds with a responsible father is associated with negative child outcomes, such as high school dropout rates, increased risk of juvenile delinquency and substance abuse, and higher rates of teenage pregnancy. In recent years, practitioners and researchers have become aware of the barriers to responsible fatherhood, and several programs have been developed to address the needs of low-income non-custodial parents. As fathers are able to meet their child support payments, they are also more likely to become emotionally connected to their children, thus reducing the risks of negative outcomes among our youngest generations.
Central to effective programs addressing the complex needs of non-custodial parents and their children is the collaboration of TANF and OCSE agencies. The workshop emphasized funding opportunities available to agencies to develop services and programs for non-custodial parents.
The full report on the workshop "Addressing the Needs of Non-Custodial Parents in TANF Families" has been posted on the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network under the TA Reports section. You can find it under "What’s New" and under "TA Events" (Two ways to get there from the TA events page are via "chronological list" and via "hard to serve/multi barriers." The direct address for the report is: http://www.calib.com/peerta/whatsnew/pdf/ncpworkshop.pdf in PDF format.
There have been several key events held in the five state area to focus attention on the issues of fatherhood and the potential for positive impact on American families. The Regional Hub Director delivered special remarks at the first annual Region VI Head Start Association Fatherhood Conference in Texas on March 1-4, 2001. The conference, attended by representatives of several ACF programs, was the first-ever region-wide activity for males who are fathers, grandfathers, uncles or interested human beings who love and care for children. The 3rd Annual Male Advocacy Network Conference, "Men in the New Millennium" held in Albuquerque, New Mexico afforded the opportunity for networking with individuals from across the country. The Regional Hub Director provided special remarks and emphasized the importance of the fatherhood issue across all ACF programs. The Regional Hub Director and the program specialist for Fatherhood attended and participated in the Texas Fragile Families Peer Learning College hosted by the Texas Attorney General’s Office to increase information exchange among Child Support workers to assist young fathers with education and job training resources. ACF West Central Hub Director for Community Programs participated in the "Mi Hogar y Mi Familia" Conference held at Coastal Bend College (Bee County College) in Alice, Texas to specifically address the issue of fatherhood in the Hispanic community.
Project RETURN Helps Former Prision Inmates to Get Jobs. Project Return provides services to former prison inmates. The services include non-medical substance abuse treatment, family counseling, GED and academic enhancement, training in conflict resolution and communication/relationship building, job training and placement assistance. The program targeted prisoners in New Orleans, Shreveport and Lafayette. To date, 48 former inm