I am pleased to submit to you on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Departments of Agriculture, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, and Labor the report, Meeting the Challenge: What the Federal Government Can Do to Support Responsible Fatherhood Efforts, in response to your Executive Memorandum of June 17, 2000. Your memorandum requested these Departments to provide coordinated guidance on federal resources and opportunities for promoting responsible fatherhood.
This guidance clearly identifies that the Federal Government has played an important role in supporting men in their role as fathers and can do more. We want to thank you and Vice-President Gore for your leadership on this issue. You and the Vice-President have helped us to identify the barriers that impede government-funded programs from helping fathers and to create opportunities for fathers to help their children have a better life by increasing the emotional and financial support they provide their children and families.
It is our belief that Meeting the Challenge will be useful both to individual fathers and to organizations at the community level, including fathers' groups and family support agencies, seeking to help fathers to fulfill their responsibilities. We expect that State and local governments will find this guidance to be helpful, as will many national organizations. Although, responsible fatherhood is an issue that has been supported by substantial interdepartmental collaboration, we know that in compiling this guidance our Departments have learned much from each other about the kinds of programs that can be funded to support responsible fatherhood efforts. As you requested this guidance will be published both as a hard-copy document and as an internet document.
Donna E. Shalala
Home Pages:
Fatherhood Initiative
U. S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Labor
Last updated: 1/19/01