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Social Work Fathering Among Families Served By Child Welfare
by
Jennifer Bellamy

Introduction

Fathering among families served by child welfare is a relatively underdeveloped but growing area of focus in social work and allied fields. The role of fathers in the achievement of key child welfare goals—including child safety, permanency, and well-being—has been increasingly acknowledged in both research and practice communities. Like mothers, fathers confer both risks and resources on their children, directly and indirectly, through a complex interplay of behaviors and relationships. Historically, child welfare research has been focused on the mother-child dyad and has often narrowly acknowledged fathers as perpetrators of sexual and physical maltreatment. Males have been linked to some of the most severe forms of physical abuse and are over-represented as perpetrators of sexual abuse. More current works have opened the lens of focus on fathers to include a variety of family and parent-child relationships, to explore the potential for fathers to serve as resources for children and families, and to address the unique service needs of men in families. Providers in the child welfare system and related services have begun to explore the engagement of fathers in child welfare services, but few empirical studies have examined the efficacy of these efforts.

General Overviews

Many recurring themes emerge in general overviews of the literature related to fathering among families served by child welfare. Scholars who describe the theoretical and empirical work lament the lack of work specific to fathers, including the tendency to ignore fathers or to paint them strictly in a negative light. Brown, et al. 2009, Herrington 2009, and Risley-Curtiss, et al. 2003 provide critical theoretical analyses of the limitations and gaps in research, policy, and practice. Whereas Brown and Risley-Curtiss illustrate the persistent gender biases of the child welfare service system, Herrington 2009 recommends a theoretical lens through which to extend the work dedicated to fathers. Dubowitz 2006 and Lamb 2001 offer brief introductions to scholarship on fathers’ role in child maltreatment. Featherstone 2001 surveys the literature from a more practice-oriented perspective. Marshall, et al. 2001 is unique for its focus on child wellbeing specific to fathers and child welfare. See Bellamy 2009, cited in Family Structure and Demographics, for a demographic snapshot of fathers and other males in families who have been reported to child welfare in the United States.

  • Brown, Leslie, Marilyn Callahan, Susan Strega, Christopher Walmsley, and Lena Dominelli. 2009. Manufacturing ghost fathers: The paradox of father presence and absence in child welfare. Child and Family Social Work 14:25–34.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2008.00578.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A conceptual piece that addresses the “invisibility” or exclusion of fathers in child welfare policy, practice, and scholarship. Offers a critical examination of the discourse related to gender and other key biases that serve to marginalize fathers.

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  • Dubowitz, Howard. 2006. Where’s dad? A need to understand father’s role in child maltreatment. Child Abuse and Neglect 30:461–465.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.04.002Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Invited commentary in the 2006 special issue on fathers in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect. Provides a brief overview of the persistent gaps and emerging trends in the literature on fathers and child maltreatment.

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  • Featherstone, Brid. 2001. Putting fathers on the child welfare agenda. Child and Family Social Work 6:179–186.

    DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2206.2001.00195.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A research review with a particular focus on the United Kingdom. Highlights contemporary research on the relationship between fathers and child development, domestic violence, and other issues that pertain to childcare professionals, including some key debates and areas of focus in the field.

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  • Herrington, David J. 2009. Fathers and child maltreatment: A research agenda based on evolutionary theory and behavioral biology research. Children and Youth Services Review 31:935–945.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2009.04.007Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    An examination of different types of father-child relationships and the relative risk of maltreatment they confer on children. The construct of parental investment is used as a frame for understanding relative risk and as a potential guide for risk assessment and child placement decisions.

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  • Lamb, Michael E. 2001. Male roles in families ‘at risk’: The ecology of child maltreatment. Child Maltreatment 6:310–313.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559501006004004Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Invited commentary on a special focus section of the journal Child Maltreatment on findings from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) on fathers and child maltreatment. Overviews the historical progress and limitations of research from a focus on presence and absence of fathers to complex family relationships.

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  • Marshall, David B., Diana J. English, and Angela J. Stewart. 2001. The effect of fathers or father figures on child behavioral problems in families referred to child protective services. Child Maltreatment 6.4: 290–299.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559501006004002Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Describes how the relationship between the presence or absence of a father figure in a child’s life and child behavior problems changes over time.

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  • Risley-Curtiss, Christina, and Kristin Heffernan. 2003. Gender biases in child welfare. Affilia 18:395–410.

    DOI: 10.1177/0886109903257629Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Review of the literature underlining the persistent tendency to dismiss the effect of the quality of fathering on child wellbeing and to blame mothers for problems in families. Structures, policies, and practices that contribute to the maintenance of this bias are examined.

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Reference Works

There is no one definitive text focused on fathering in child welfare. Many reference works include topics closely related to, and helpful for understanding, fathers’ contribution to child wellbeing, fathers’ roles in child maltreatment in the larger family context, and the unique service needs of fathers. Where earlier works were focused on the question of whether or not fathers matter, more contemporary discussions explore the complexities of their positive and negative contributions to families. Lamb 2010 provides a conceptual introduction to the diverse roles of fathers in children’s development and reflects the evolution of this area of scholarship over the years. Tamis-LeMonda and Cabrera 2002 similarly taps scholarly experts to take a broad look at fathers’ involvement. Belsky 1984 provides a classic framework for understanding fathers’ roles in child maltreatment. More recent work (Featherstone, et al. 2007 and Johnson 2010) focuses on the intersection between service systems and fathers, highlighting some of the challenges and advances in the field. Featherstone, et al. 2007, Pease and Camilleri 2001, and Rosenberg and Wilcox 2006 may be particularly useful for students and practitioners who are looking for applied examples and practice recommendations.

Journals

Nearly all of the journals dedicated to research and practice in child welfare and child maltreatment have published articles relevant to fathers in families who are in contact with the child welfare system. The journals Child Abuse and Neglect and Child Maltreatment have both published special issues on the topic (in 2006 and 2009, respectively). The greatest concentration of scholarly papers on the topic of fathers and child welfare appear in Child Maltreatment. Child Abuse and Neglect includes strong empirical work and features a number of articles on fathers and child maltreatment. Child and Family Social Work features work around fathering and child wellbeing, Also focused on child wellbeing, Child Welfare offers a number of articles that examine the intersection of child welfare and domestic violence. Children and Youth Services Review includes more scholarship specific to the provision of services. To date, there is no journal specifically dedicated to this topic.

Child Maltreatment

The understanding of fathers’ role in child maltreatment has expanded over the years to move beyond the narrow conceptualization of these men as perpetrators of physical and sexual abuse from whom mothers are expected to protect their children. More recent work on physical abuse and neglect, including areas in need of future development and research, is described in this vein by Guterman and Lee 2005 and by Lee, et al. 2009. More complex and reciprocal relationships among fathers, mothers, and other caregivers, as well as a broad variety of other individual, familial, and contextual factors, are increasingly recognized. For example, Francis and Wolfe 2008 examines some of the individual characteristics of fathers who maltreat, while Guerrero and Vasquez 2009 examines the interplay between individual and relational characteristics. Pittman and Buckley 2006 identifies gender differences and similarities by comparing and contrasting mothers and fathers who maltreat.

  • Francis, Karen J., and David A. Wolfe. 2008. Cognitive and emotional differences between abusive and non-abusive fathers. Child Abuse and Neglect 32:1127–1137.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2008.05.007Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Differences between fathers referred to child protective services for physical abuse and non-abusing fathers are identified. Fathers with abusive histories have more anger and aggression, mental health problems, and parenting stress, and less positive and empathetic feelings toward their children.

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  • Guerrero, Desi, and Alonzo Vasquez. 2009. Hypermasculinity, intimate partner violence, sexual aggression, social support, and child maltreatment in urban, heterosexual fathers taking parenting classes. Child Welfare 88.4: 135–155.

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    The role of hypermasculinity, or rigid adherence to strict gender roles, is explored with a sample of fathers referred to parenting classes. Hypermasculinity is related to aggression toward their partners, but is not an increased risk for child maltreatment.

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  • Guterman, Neil B., and Yookyong Lee. 2005. The role of fathers in risk for child physical abuse and neglect: Possible pathways and unanswered questions. Child Maltreatment 10:136–149.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559505274623Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Outlines the research describing the broad sociodemographic and psychosocial factors associated with fathers’ maltreatment of children. Provides a critique of the methodological approach to research in the area, and a focus on prevention.

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  • Lee, Shawna J., Jennifer L. Bellamy, and Neil B. Guterman. 2009. Fathers, physical child abuse and neglect: Advancing the knowledge base. Child Maltreatment 14:227–231.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559509339388Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    An introduction to the 2006 special issue on fathers and physical child abuse and neglect in the journal Child Maltreatment. Provides a brief update to the methodological issues and state of the research outlined more fully in Guterman and Lee 2005.

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  • Pittman, Joe F., and Rhonda R. Buckley. 2006. Comparing maltreating fathers and mothers in terms of personal distress, interpersonal functioning and perceptions of family climate. Child Abuse & Neglect 30.5: 481–496.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2004.10.017Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Fathers and mothers identified and served by the United States Air Force Family Advocacy Program highlight small but distinct differences between mothers and fathers in in terms of sources of distress and perceptions of family.

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Neglect

Although neglect is the most common form of child maltreatment reported among families served by child welfare, the role of fathers in child neglect is rarely studied. Coohey and Zhang 2006 and Dubowitz, et al. 2000 have begun to identify the father-related factors associated with neglect, and Dufour, et al. 2008 has outlined some of the unique needs of men in families receiving services for neglect.

  • Coohey, Carol, and Ying Zhang. 2006. The role of men in chronic supervisory neglect. Child Maltreatment 11:27–33.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559505283548Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Describes the characteristics of fathers and father figures related to chronic supervisory neglect and emphasizes the need to include these men in assessments.

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  • Dubowitz, Howard, Maureen M. Black, Mia A. Kerr, Raymond H. Starr, and Donna Harrington. 2000. Fathers and child neglect. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 154.2: 135–141.

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    Finds that fathers’ presence or absence is not associated with risk for child neglect. Identifies father-related characteristics associated with child neglect among families where fathers are present.

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  • Dufour, Sarah, Chantal Lavergne, Marie-Claude Larriveé, and Nico Trocmé. 2008. Who are these parents involved in child neglect? A differential analysis by parent gender and family structure. Children and Youth Services Review 30:141–156.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2007.09.002Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Compares the personal problems exhibited by Canadian mothers and fathers who are involved in child welfare as a result of neglect, ranging broadly from unemployment to mental health problems. Fathers generally have fewer problems, and their problems vary less by family structure than is found for mothers.

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Physical Abuse

Although fathers are less often perpetrators of child maltreatment, they are consistently overrepresented in cases that result in death or serious injury. Brewster, et al. 1998 describes military family factors related to fatal child maltreatment. Fujiwara, et al. 2009 presents more detail as to the nature of the violence resulting in the death of children in more general population samples, and Stiffman, et al. 2002 underscores the risk presented by unrelated males. Whereas these authors focus on the most seriously injurious maltreatment, Coohey 2000 moves the literature on fathers and physical abuse beyond individual factors to look at the social context of fathers. Father-related factors associated with an increased risk for physical child abuse—including poor social support, unemployment, low education, and history of violence—are also described by Coohey 2006. Findings in this area are not consistent, however, and Guterman, et al. 2009 and Lee, et al. 2008 both identify some of the discrepancies in findings on the connection between maltreatment and marriage, employment, and earnings.

  • Brewster, Albert L., John P. Nelson, Kent P. Hymel, Donald R. Colby, D. R. Lucas, Thomas R. McCanne, and Joel S. Milner. 1998. Victim, perpetrator, family, and incident characteristics of 32 infant maltreatment deaths in the United States Air Force. Child Abuse and Neglect 22.2: 91–101.

    DOI: 10.1016/S0145-2134(97)00132-4Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Describes factors related to child deaths, using a variety of information sources. Although the data are limited to a small number of military families, the perpetrators are overwhelmingly male, and the majority show evidence of a history of physical abuse.

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  • Coohey, Carol. 2000. The role of friends, in-laws, and other kin in father-perpetrated child physical abuse. Child Welfare 79.4: 373–402.

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    Compares fathers who are physically abusive to those who are not and finds that maltreating fathers have relatively lesser and lower-quality social support and networks.

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  • Coohey, Carol. 2006. Physically abusive fathers and risk assessment. Child Abuse and Neglect 30.5: 467–480.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2004.10.016Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A comparison of father-related factors that are statistically predictive of physical child abuse with factors that caseworkers believe are related to repeated abuse.

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  • Fujiwara, Takeo, Catherine Barber, Judy Schaechter, and Davide Hemenway. 2009. Characteristics of infant homicides: Findings from a U.S. multisite reporting system. Pediatrics 124:e210–e217.

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    Identifies two distinct types of child homicides. One type is perpetrated predominantly by young males using beatings, and the second, less common type was perpetrated more often by females and included a broader range of injuries and precipitating events.

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  • Guterman, Neil B., Lee Yookyong, Shawna J. Lee, Jane Waldfogel, and Paul J. Rathouz. 2009. Fathers and maternal risk for physical child abuse. Child Maltreatment 14.3: 277–290.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559509337893Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Provides evidence counter to the assertion that marriage itself shields against child maltreatment, but rather that it is associated with other protective factors. Highly educated fathers and those who had more positive relationships with their children reduced the likelihood of maternal child abuse.

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  • Lee, Shawna J., Neil B. Guterman, and Yookyong Lee. 2008. Risk factors for paternal physical child abuse. Child Abuse and Neglect 32:846–858.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.11.006Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Uses a developmental-psychological framework to examine factors that increase fathers’ risk for child maltreatment. Suggests that paternal employment and earnings are less closely linked to physical abuse than prior work suggests, and that risk varies across racial and ethnic groups.

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  • Stiffman, Michael, Patricia G. Schnitzer, Patricia Adam, Robin L. Kruse, and Bernard G. Ewigman. 2002. Household composition and risk of fatal child maltreatment. Pediatrics 109.4: 615–621.

    DOI: 10.1542/peds.109.4.615Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Links fatal child maltreatment to the presence of one or more unrelated adult males in the household and children living with step, adoptive, or foster parents.

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Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse is less often the focus of recent scholarship on fathers and child maltreatment. Some examples of contemporary work include Cyr, et al. 2002, a comparison of fathers who sexually abuse children with other abusive male relatives. Smith and Saunders 1995 examines the differences between fathers who perpetrate sexual abuse and their nonoffending partners. The bulk of the work on sexual abuse has focused on the consequences for, and treatment of, victims of this form of child maltreatment.

  • Cyr, Mireille, John Wright, Pierre McDuff, and Alain Perron. 2002. Intrafamilial sexual abuse: Brother-sister incest does not differ from father-daughter and stepfather-stepdaughter incest. Child Abuse and Neglect 26:957–973.

    DOI: 10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00365-4Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A comparison of the characteristics of maltreatment, family environments, and psychosocial impact of sexual abuse across different perpetrator-victim relationships. Few differences are identified across relationship types, providing evidence counter to the assertion that brother-sister incest is less harmful than father-daughter sexual abuse.

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  • Smith, Daniel W., and Benjamin E. Saunders. 1995. Personality characteristics of father/perpetrators and nonoffending mothers in incest families: Individual and dyadic analysis. Child Abuse and Neglect 19.5: 607–615.

    DOI: 10.1016/0145-2134(95)00019-5Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Explores the accuracy of the belief that the relationship between fathers who perpetrate sexual abuse and nonoffending mothers can be described as a “dominant-submissive” partnership. No evidence was found for this pattern, but rather mothers and fathers shared many traits in common.

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Domestic Violence

The complex interplay between intimate partner violence and child maltreatment has come to forefront in the discourse on fathers and child maltreatment. Copps Hartley 2002 and Salisbury, et al. 2009 describe the commonly identified overlap in the factors related to child physical abuse and intimate partner violence. The connection between these two areas of concern is consistently described, yet the response to interpersonal violence in the context of child welfare remains a challenge, as discussed by Featherstone and Peckover 2007. Also see Guerrero and Vasquez 2009, cited in Fathers and Child Maltreatment, for a discussion of the construct of hypermasculinity as it relates to fathers and intimate partner violence.

  • Copps Hartley, Carolyn. 2002. The co-occurrence of child maltreatment and domestic violence: Examining both neglect and child physical abuse. Child Maltreatment 7:349–358.

    DOI: 10.1177/107755902237264Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Compares families where both domestic violence and child maltreatment are indicated with families with child maltreatment only, including families with neglect only, where other studies are often limited to physical abuse.

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  • Featherstone, Brid, and Sue Peckover. 2007. Letting them get away with it: Fathers, domestic violence and child welfare. Critical Social Policy 27.2: 181–202.

    DOI: 10.1177/0261018306075708Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Provides a U.K.-focused critical reflection on the historical and continued tendency to treat men involved with child welfare as violent perpetrators and offenders, but not as fathers and caregivers. The failure to acknowledge men’s multiple identities in families limits the policy and service response to families as a whole.

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  • Salisbury, Emily J., Kris Henning, and Robert Holdford. 2009. Fathering by partner-abusive men: Attitudes on children’s exposure to interpersonal conflict and risk factors for child abuse. Child Maltreatment 14.3: 232–242.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559509338407Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Explores the attitudes and beliefs of men arrested for intimate partner violence regarding their children’s experience of and exposure to violent exchanges. The majority of men play some type of fathering role, few acknowledge the impact of their behavior on the children they father, and many exhibit risk factors for child maltreatment.

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Child Welfare Services

Studies of fathers served by the child welfare system are uncommon relative to those focused on mothers, and many works rely on the reports of caseworkers or other indirect sources to examine the intersection between male caregivers and services. Some contributions, including Daniel and Taylor 1999 and Featherstone 2003, examine some of the reasons for this lack of attention to males. O’Donnell and Johnson 2005 demonstrates the wide variety of caseworkers’ views on engaging fathers in child welfare services, including, at times, indifference and negative views that contribute to this gap in scholarship. Others, including Huebner, et al. 2008 and Strega, et al. 2009, have begun to address this gap by looking at fathers’ needs and developing interventions for fathers, such as those described by Scott and Crooks 2006.

  • Daniel, Brigid, and Julie Taylor. 1999. The rhetoric versus the reality: A critical perspective on practice with fathers in child care and protection work. Child and Family Social Work 4:209–220.

    DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2206.1999.00117.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A thorough deconstruction of many of the messages that surround and limit perceptions of fathers and fatherhood from a practice perspective.

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  • Featherstone, Brid. 2003. Taking fathers seriously. British Journal of Social Work 33:239–254.

    DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/33.2.239Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Outlines contemporary social policy and social discourse in the context of changing family structures from a U.K. perspective. This changing discourse is contrasted to the dominant discourse in child welfare.

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  • Huebner, Ruth A., Mac Werner, Steve Hartwig, Stacy White, and Daniel Shewa. 2008. Engaging fathers: Needs and satisfaction in child protective services. Administration in Social Work 32.2: 87–103.

    DOI: 10.1300/J147v32n02_06Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Integrates and contrasts fathers’ and caseworkers’ perspectives on child welfare services for fathers, highlighting the potential and the mismatch between the fathers’ needs and system responses.

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  • O’Donnell, John M. and Waldo E. Johnson. 2005. Fathers in child welfare: Caseworkers’ perspectives. Child Welfare: Journal of Policy, Practice, and Program 84:387–414.

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    Describes the diverse views of caseworkers regarding parity of services for mothers and fathers, and how to engage fathers.

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  • Scott, Katreena L., and Claire V. Crooks. 2006. Interventions for abusive fathers: Promising practices and community responses. Juvenile and Family Court Journal 57.3: 29–44.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-6988.2006.tb00126.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Using the Caring Dads program as an example, principles of appropriate interventions with fathers are described and contrasted with traditional court responses. For more details on the Caring Dads program, see Scott and Crooks 2007, cited in Interventions.

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  • Strega, Susan, Leslie Brown, Marilyn Callahan, Lena Dominelli, and Christopher Walmsley. 2009. Working with me, working at me: Fathers’ narratives of child welfare. Journal of Progressive Human Services 20:72–91.

    DOI: 10.1080/10428230902871207Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Perspectives of fathers actively engaged in the Canadian child welfare system, using compelling narratives from four fathers’ reflections on their own experiences with the system.

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Assessment, Case Planning and Referrals

The dominant themes in child welfare assessment, case planning, and referrals as these services relate to fathers are the lack of thorough information about fathers, the failure to engage fathers in these processes, and the barriers to efforts to include fathers in the case process. O’Hagan 1997 represents an earlier work in this area, yet reflects many of the contemporary themes and issues related to engaging men in the child welfare case process. Malm, et al. 2006 and Smithgall, et al. 2009 provide the most comprehensive overviews of fathers’ inclusion in these services, with particular insights on issues related to nonresident fathers. Others have taken a closer look at particular subgroups of fathers. Coakley 2008 is one of the few authors to look specifically at African American fathers, and Strega, et al. 2008 takes a rare look at the involvement of adolescent fathers.

Foster Care

Although fathers have been increasingly recognized as resources for children who are placed in foster care, abundant challenges and failures of the child welfare system to engage fathers continue to be reaffirmed. O’Donnell 1999 and O’Donnell 2001 illustrate these failures more specifically with African American fathers and families that include more than one father. Despite the difficulties, Franck 2001 describes the potential benefit of reaching out to fathers whose children are in foster care. Although fathers are increasingly seen as resources to keep children out of foster care or to speed up reunification, in some cases fathers’ parental rights are terminated. This critical legal process has rarely been examined. Olmstead, et al. 2010 provides a look at this process. Although most work in this area is focused on biological fathers, some authors (e.g., Wilson, Fyson, and Newstone 2007) have examined the contributions of foster fathers.

  • Franck, Ellen J. 2001. Outreach to birthfathers of children in out-of-home care. Child Welfare 80.3: 381–399.

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    Confirms the failure to engage fathers to the same degree as mothers and discusses the benefits of including fathers in foster care-related services.

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  • O’Donnell, John M. 1999. Involvement of African American fathers in kinship foster care services. Social Work 44.5: 428–441.

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    A detailed description of the limited data on, lack of inclusion of, and low investment in African American fathers in foster care services.

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  • O’Donnell, John M. 2001. Paternal involvement in kinship foster care services in one father and multiple father families. Child Welfare 80.4: 453–479.

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    Reveals a pattern of lesser involvement among fathers who are biologically related to only one child in families with multiple children, although fathers were generally excluded from contact with caseworkers, case information, and planning.

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  • Olmstead, Spencer B., Lenore M. McWey, and Tammy Henderson. 2010. In the child’s best interest: Terminating the rights of fathers with children in foster care. Journal of Family Issues 32.1: 1–24.

    DOI: 10.1177/0192513X10375411Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    One of the few studies directly investigating the process of terminating the parental rights of fathers who are not incarcerated. Includes a brief overview of the history of fathers’ rights.

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  • Wilson, Kate, Rachel Fyson, and Simon Newstone. 2007. Foster fathers: Their experiences and contributions to fathering. Child and Family Social Work 12:22–31.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2006.00443.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A rare exploration of the experience of foster fathers, using data collected directly from men in England.

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Interventions

There is an emerging literature around the impact of including fathers in interventions traditionally provided to families involved with child welfare, as well as interventions aimed specifically at fathers who maltreat. Bagner and Eyberg 2003 and Lundahl, et al. 2008 demonstrate that including fathers in parent training interventions generally has a positive impact on the efficacy and maintenance of treatment outcomes. However, findings regarding the inclusion of fathers in parent training interventions are not consistent, and the examination of fathers is often secondary to the primary focus of empirical work. Interventions aimed more specifically at the needs of fathers are recently being developed and rigorously tested by scholars including Lam, et al. 2009, Scott and Crooks 2009, and Scott and Crooks 2007. See Bugental 2004 for a reflection on Scott and Crooks 2009. However, including fathers in interventions includes facing unique service challenges, as illustrated by Duggan, et al. 2009.

  • Bagner, Daniel M., and Sheila M. Eyberg. 2003. Father involvement in parent training: When does it matter? Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 32.4: 599–605.

    DOI: 10.1207/S15374424JCCP3204_13Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Suggests that the benefits of fathers’ participation in parenting interventions may not be immediately evident, but could help maintain treatment effects following intervention using parent-child intervention therapy.

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  • Bugental, Daphne Blunt. 2004. Finding ways to reduce the prevalence of child maltreatment among fathers: A comment on the alternative approaches. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 11:112–115.

    DOI: 10.1093/clipsy/bph059Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A brief commentary reflecting on, and adding additional evidence to, Scott and Crooks 2009. The characteristics of fathers who maltreat and the need for prevention work are emphasized.

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  • Duggan, Anne, Loretta Fuddy, Elizabeth McFarlane, Lori Burrell, Amy Windham, Susan Higman, and Calvin Sia. 2009. Evaluating a statewide home visiting program to prevent child abuse in at-risk families of newborns: Fathers’ participation and outcomes. Child Maltreatment 9:3–17.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559503261336Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Illustrates some of the difficulties related to engaging men in home visiting interventions to prevent child maltreatment, and the impact of family context on outcomes.

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  • Lam, Wendy K. K., William Fals-Stewart, and Michelle L. Kelley. 2009. Parent training with behavioral couples therapy for fathers’ alcohol abuse: Effects on substance use, parental relationship, parenting and CPS involvement. Child Maltreatment 14.3: 243–254.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559509334091Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Describes a promising pilot test of a combined parent training and behavioral couples therapy intervention for fathers in outpatient treatment for alcohol abuse.

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  • Lundahl, Brad W., Derrik Tollefson, Heather Risser, and Christine Lovejoy. 2008. A meta-analysis of father involvement in parent training. Research on Social Work Practice 18:97–106.

    DOI: 10.1177/1049731507309828Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Parent training interventions that include fathers show generally more positive results than those that do not, although fathers do not appear to benefit from interventions to the same degree as do mothers.

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  • Scott, Katreena L., and Claire V. Crooks. 2007. Preliminary evaluation of an intervention program for maltreating fathers. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 7:224–238.

    DOI: 10.1093/brief-treatment/mhm007Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Details the Caring Dads intervention program for fathers who have maltreated their children or who have exposed children to intimate partner violence. The theoretical rationale, program components, and empirical support are presented.

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  • Scott, Katreena L., and Claire V. Crooks. 2009. Effecting change in maltreating fathers: Critical principles for intervention planning. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 11:95–111.

    DOI: 10.1093/clipsy/bph058Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    A framework for interventions with maltreating fathers is proposed, with an emphasis on addressing fathers’ control and sense of entitlement over traditional parent management skills and supportive interventions. Resistance to change, gender role stereotypes, the mother-father relationship, and child trust are also explored and illustrated with brief narratives.

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Family Structure and Demographics

In response to shifts in family structure in many countries, child welfare and child maltreatment scholarship has increasingly acknowledged the diversity in family relationships and the range of household, biological, legal, and social relationships between fathers, mothers, and children. The unique needs and positive contributions of nonresident fathers have recently been highlighted. With an increase in divorce and single-parent families, concerns about the risk that unrelated and nonresidential males pose to children has likewise increased.

Nonresident Fathers

Fathers who do not live with their children pose some unique challenges to the child welfare system. For example, they may be difficult to engage since they are not living with the child who is the focus of a child welfare case, they may have severed ties with the mother, and they might not have established legal paternity. Malm, et al. 2008 describes some of these challenges, as well as the potential role of nonresident fathers as positive resources. Smithgall, et al. 2009, cited in Assessment, Case Planning and Referrals, also illustrates the positive contributions of nonresident fathers. As nonresident fathers have increasingly been recognized as a underused resource for children and families, resources such as the ones developed by Cohen, et al. 2009 and Harris 2007 have been produced.

  • Cohen, Andrew L., Richard Cozzola, Kathleen Creamer, Leonard P. Edwards, Daniel L. Hatcher, Mark S. Kiselica, Jennifer L. Renne, Vivek S. Sankaran, and Andrya L. Soprych. 2009. Advocating for nonresident fathers in child welfare court cases. New York: American Bar Association and American Humane Association.

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    Practical insights on legal processes and strategies aimed at supporting the interests and legal rights of fathers.

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  • Harris, Leslie Joan. 2007. Involving nonresident fathers in dependency cases: New efforts, new problems, new solutions. Journal of Law and Family Studies 9.2: 281–307.

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    Summarizes the traditional child welfare approach to nonresident fathers of children in foster care cases, and describes alternative methods. Argues for a more inclusive and direct legal and policy approach to fathers at the state level.

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  • Malm, Karin, Erica Zielewski, and Henry Chen. 2008. More about the dads: Exploring associations between nonresident father involvement and child welfare case outcomes. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

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    A follow-up report to Malm, Murray and Geen 2006 (cited under Assessment, Case Planning and Referrals), using the same sample of foster-care children after two years. Nonresident fathers’ involvement resulted in higher rates of reunification, less time in foster care, and a reduced rate of re-report following reunification.

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Father Figures, Stepfathers and Father Surrogates

The dominant focus of research on father figures, stepfathers, and father surrogates in child welfare has been on the risks that they may or may not bring to families. Men who live with unrelated children appear to pose the greatest risk. Berger, Paxson, and Waldfogel, 2009 and Radhakrishna, et al. 2001 each offer evidence to support this concern, while Bellamy 2009 suggests that the risk perceived by caseworkers may be greater than the actual risk posed by these men. Also see Stiffman, et al. 2002 (cited in Physical Abuse) for a study linking the presence of unrelated males in the household to child homicide. Claudine, et al. 2007 considers some of the factors that encourage or discourage stepfathers’ involvement.

  • Bellamy, Jennifer L. 2009. A national study of male involvement among families in contact with the child welfare system. Child Maltreatment 14:255–262.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559508326288Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Describes the diverse household, marital, and biological relationships of male members of families involved in child welfare. Examines the relationship between these males and risk for child maltreatment and entry into foster care.

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  • Berger, Lawrence M., Christina Paxson, and Jane Waldfogel. 2009. Mothers, men, and child protective services. Child Maltreatment 14.3: 263–276.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559509337255Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Examines the relative risk for child protective service involvement posed by different types of household structure. Households that include men who are not biologically related to all of the children in the household are more likely to come into contact with child welfare.

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  • Parent, Claudine, Marie-Christine Saint Jacques, Madeleine Beaudry, and Caroline Robitaille. 2007. Stepfather involvement in social interventions made by youth protection services in step families. Child and Family Social Work 12:229–238.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2007.00494.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Caseworkers perspectives on stepfathers are explored, including decision making about the conditions under which to include or exclude them in the context of services.

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  • Radhakrishna, Aruna, Ingrid E. Bou-Saada, Wanda M. Hunter, Diane J. Catellier, and Jonathan B. Kotch. 2001. Are father surrogates a risk factor for child maltreatment? Child Maltreatment 6.4: 281–289.

    DOI: 10.1177/1077559501006004001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Finds that children who live with a father surrogate are twice as likely to be the victims of child maltreatment as are children who live with a biological father or no father figure.

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LAST MODIFIED: 04/14/2011

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195389678-0138

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