What Strategies Can Programs Use to Help More Dads Participate in Fatherhood Services?

Publication Date: April 22, 2022
strategies programs fatherhood services

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Introduction

In many U.S. communities, fathers have access to a broad range of services. However, competing demands often prevent them from using or taking full advantage of these services even though they might benefit from participation. In those cases, program operators might gather what they know about fathers’ motivations and concerns and work with colleagues to address them.

In 2020, MDRC and its partners conducted a literature scan and held a series of conversations on this topic with practitioners, fathers, researchers, policymakers, and other subject matter experts. This publication summarizes engagement approaches practitioners have tried or are considering. These promising approaches are organized by the four primary reasons that emerged from the data about why fathers may say they are unable to attend services:

  • I am not interested.
  • I do not think the program is right for me.
  • I have unmet basic needs.
  • I have other relationships or commitments to attend to.

Purpose

Responsible Fatherhood programs work with fathers to promote healthy relationships, improve parenting skills, and help fathers attain economic stability. For programs to improve fathers’ outcomes, they need to be able to recruit fathers, engage them in services, and keep them actively participating in program activities. This brief describes promising approaches that programs can implement to address common barriers to participation in fatherhood programs.

Methods

Beginning in January 2020, the study team sought to learn about the challenges faced by fatherhood programs and promising approaches for addressing those challenges. The team emailed and talked by phone or video calls with nearly 100 individuals including 29 federal staff members across different agencies, 5 staff members from state agencies, 4 developers of curricula designed to be used with fathers, 4 individuals from nonprofit funding organizations, 8 training and technical assistance providers, 14 researchers including experts in iterative learning methods and program evaluation, and 30 program staff members at fatherhood programs.

The approaches in this brief are divided into two categories: those that staff members can try inside a program and those they can direct toward or that involve external audiences, such as other organizations in a local community.

Recommendations

This guide includes over 100 ideas from the fatherhood field for how to better meet the needs of fathers who are not engaging in the programming available to them. Once you learn about an individual’s motivations and concerns related to programming, use the guide the help identify an appropriate response.

  • If a father says, “I am not interested,” search through five key challenges or areas of concern to find twenty-two responses others shared who have faced similar challenges.

  • If a father says, “I do not think the program is right for me,” search through seven challenges to find twenty-nine potential responses to try.

  • If a father says, “I have unmet basic needs,” search through eight different needs categories to find thirty different program approaches for a targeted response.

  • If a father says, “I have other relationships or commitments to attend to,” search through seven types of scheduling conflicts for twenty-four ideas of program adaptations.

Citation

Marano, Emily, Dina Israel, and Diego Quezada. 2022. “What strategies can programs use to help more dads participate in fatherhood services?” OPRE Report # 2022-65. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.