Father Involvement in Early Head Start Programs

Abstract

A survey of all Early Head Start programs funded from [1995][1996][1997][1998] Levine et al. (1998), revealed that programs seem to pass through a predictable sequence of stages towards ever more complex and purposeful father involvement; we found strong evidence for this stage-like progression in the current study. Mature programs were characterized by greater father involvement, more goals and program activities for fathers, a different pattern of perceived barriers, more successful solutions to challenging situations, and greater likelihood of identifying staff for father involvement, providing father involvement training, recruiting using men; reaching out to nonresident as well as resident fathers and working with partners within the community than programs at large. To a lesser extent there was also variation as a result of program approach (whether serving families through home-based services; center-based services or a combination or mixed approach). Programs also varied according to the race/ethnicity of the families served, whether predominantly (50% or more) African American, Hispanic, white, Native American or families from a mixture of races and ethnic backgrounds, illustrating the importance of the cultural component of father involvement in programs. Many of the findings have implications for program practices. !The questions the study addressed are as follows.• Slightly more than a third of the programs (37%) included at least one father who was the primary caregiver of his child/ren; 18 programs reported 3 or more custodial fathers.There is considerable variation across programs in the population of fathers of Early Head Start children. Programs are likely to have different experiences with father involvement due to variability in the fatherhood population. Some programs serve a higher percentage of resident fathers. For example, home-based programs report that 48.8% of their children have resident fathers. Programs serving Hispanic families, 56.9%; those serving smaller proportions of teen parents, 47.2%, and those in rural areas, 46.6%, report more children with resident fathers than their counterparts. Other programs serve a higher percentage of involved, nonresident fathers. For example, programs serving African American children reported that 37.3% of their children had an involved, nonresident father; the percent of involved nonresident fathers was also higher in center-based programs (31.6%), among those serving a high proportion of teen parents (31.7%) and in urban areas (34.1%).The programs themselves also vary. Most programs think of themselves as novices when it comes to father involvement (early stage = 72%); some think they are somewhat more experienced (mid-stage = 21%) and a few regard themselves as experts in father involvement (mature = 7%). Mature programs were more likely to be found in among Wave I programs, to be serving African American families, to be slightly larger than the average program in the study and to be serving families with a higher proportion of nonresiden...

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“…Several studies point to the fundamental role played by social service organisations in targeting fathers through service provision and enabling access through inclusive strategies (O'Brien, 2004;Raikes et al, 2005;Torr, 2003). It is the responsibility of the organisation to identify the barriers which prevent fathers from accessing support (Torr, 2003).…”

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