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Giving Hope and Support to America's ChildrenCSR: Who are low-income fathers? Who are we talking about?
Mincy: Keeping in mind that the data are incomplete concerning this population, we're talking about men between the ages of 18 and 34 who are noncustodial fathers with child support obligations. As a group, they make up 10 to 22 percent of young white men and 29 to 64 percent of young black men who owe child support. The men are young; usually unmarried; and have low levels of educational attainment, unstable work histories, and low earnings. These men can be thought of, in a sense, as the mirror image of long-term welfare recipients. And they tend to be subject to the same problems and vulnerabilities.
CSR: What are the problems these men face in being fathers?
Mincy: It's difficult to speak with certainty here. There's a lot we don't know about these men. Much of our data has come from small-sample researchparenting projects, labor market studies, and the like. But there are two keys to understanding their situation. One is the vulnerability I have already touched on. These are highly disadvantaged individualsunstable living arrangements, extreme poverty, incarcerationwith little in the way of services available to them. The other key: changes in the labor market since 1973, which have resulted in these men, mostly high school dropouts, falling through the cracks. So you have a group of men with marginal abilities to fulfill the various roles expected of them by our societyincluding fatherhoodwho have, in addition, been derailed by a changing labor market.
CSR: How do they view the child support enforcement system?
Mincy: Their main concern is with its inflexibility. The only thing the system knows, as they see it, is collecting money, right now. It can't accommodate the irregularity of their income. As one young man in a Fair Share group said to me: I don't see my children because I have nothing to offer them. And if I do surface, the bounty hunter is after me. It's like a person in a wheel chair approaching a building that lacks provision for the handicapped: he rolls up to the steps, but, without help, there's no way to get in.
CSR: What awareness do they have of frustrations in the larger society that may be driving the deadbeat dad rhetoricthe feelings of some that they may just be irresponsible and not disadvantaged?
Mincy: They may have some awareness, but those who do probably feel it's an unfair characterization. My sense is that they are themselves discouraged over their inability to get good jobs and frustrated in turn with the larger society for failing to provide services which could help them become better fathers and providers. This may seem a one-sided view to us. But we need to keep in mind that many of these men didn't know their own fathersor knew them only as inadequate providers. We know from focus groups and other research that they do have positive feelings about their children, that many of them meant to do a better job with their kids than their own dads did. And failure in this area can be quite disappointing.
CSR: What do these men wantwhat have programs that work with them found?
Mincy: Like most noncustodial dads, they want access to their children; they want help in fulfilling their responsibilities as fathers and providers.They also want help in improving their relationships with the mothers of their children; and they have responded very well to forums in which they can learn that other men have some of the same problems they have. In many of the programs that work with low-income, noncustodial fathers, peer group sessions have been the most successful in helping to heal some of the hurt these men feel.
CSR: What do we know about the informal roles these men may be playing in the lives of their children? We need to keep in mind that many of these men didn't know their own fathers.
Mincy: Again, there is little hard evidence here. It's more like reading tea leaves. But what we hear is that there is indeed an informal system at work in many communities, one in which the men provide cash and in-kind support"social paternity." Calling on Mom and bringing diapers, for example, is, in the eyes of the community, an admission of fatherhood. Unless a man does this, the community doesn't approve access to Mom and the child. This initial support declines over time, just as it does in the mainstream community, if ways are not found to strengthen the relationships these men have with their children.
CSR: What are we learning from the research on these men that OCSE, from a policy standpoint, might profitably consider?
Mincy: First, we need to recognize that these men are vulnerable economically and need help. Second, we should believe them when they say their relationship to their children is important to them. Third, building on this, and within the limits of its charge, the Child Support Enforcement Program might consider approaches that may work to draw men to their children in ways that reinforce family and community fabric. The challenge, it seems to me, is to fine-tune the Program's response to two different populations of fathers: the low-income dads we have been discussing and those mainstream dads who, though divorced and perhaps even unemployed for a time, are in almost all ways better educated and better equipped to deal with their fatherly responsibilities, including payment of support. It is these dads that we know more about from our research and upon which much of our policy thinking is based. The others, though, are just as deserving of our attention.
CSR: Thank you. Ronald Mincy is a Program Officer with the Ford Foundation's Urban Poverty Program.
Fathers have some concerns, as you will see from the articles in this special issue. The month in which Father's Day is celebrated seems a good time for us to listen to what fathers are saying, to learn from them and those who work with them.
Long before there was a child support enforcement program and long before Father's Day was an established holiday, President Calvin Coolidge recommended that states, if they wished, should hold their own Father's Day observances. He wrote that the widespread observance of this occasion is calculated to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children, and also to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.
We can, and we should, take pride in our share of the success of child support collections nationally, success in impressing on fathers the full measure of their obligations." But let us remember that OCSE is more than a collection agency. We are in the business of promoting families and responsible parenthood, of helping to establish, in the felicitous words of President Coolidge, more intimate relations between fathers and their children.
A Happy Father's Day to all!
The report, Child Support for Custodial Mothers and Fathers, shows that 11.5 million families with children had a parent living elsewhere as of Spring 1992, but only 6.2 million (54 percent) of the custodial parents had received awards or agreements for child support. And even among those who had received support awards, payment was inconsistent:
The report also found that mothers living with children from an absent father had a poverty rate of 35 percent, more than four times the rate for married couples with children. For custodial mothers without child support orders, nearly half of the families were poor. We know that many families, deprived of child support, are forced to go on welfare, said Mary Jo Bane, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families. Child support combined with work is a crucial link for families seeking self-sufficiency.
The new Census report is also the first to provide information on custodial fathers. While some 9.9 million custodial parents were women (86 percent), fathers were the custodial parents in 1.6 million families (14 percent). Of those with awards and payments due, about two-thirds received some payment. Regardless of which parent had custody, both fathers and mothers experienced problems in obtaining child support, said Bane.
In general, fewer custodial fathers live in poverty (13 percent for fathers, compared with 35 percent for mothers), and fewer fathers had support awards (41 percent for fathers, compared with 56 percent for mothers). For parents with unpaid child support, however, the poverty rate for both custodial mothers and fathers was about the same, just under 30 percent.
Copies of the Census report are available from the Census Bureau's Public Information Office by telephone: 301-457-2794; fax: 301-457-3670; or e-mail: pio
Charles Ballard of the National Institute for Responsible Fatherhood and Family Development in Cleveland, Ohio (the Institute) has, since 1982, been helping these young men learn how to become fathers.
The Institute receives referrals to its program by word of mouth, through health and human services agencies, the juvenile justice system, and schools. A typical program participant, referred to as a protege, is a high school drop-out with substance abuse problems and a record of arrests. More often than not, his father is uninvolved in his life, perhaps even unknown. Too often, these young men are themselves uninvolved fathers.
In Cleveland, the Institute takes about 240 proteges each year, who are expected to stay in the program for a minimum of one year. The ground rules are simple: develop a work ethic; attain a high school diploma, a General Equivalency Diploma or more; maintain a risk-free lifestyle; and establish paternity for any children born outside of marriage.
Proteges meet with an assigned outreach specialist 20 to 30 hours a month for the first three months. Some of the time is spent in groups, but much of it is one-on-one with the specialist in the protege's home.
Outreach specialists are often former proteges with an awareness of the obstacles their young charges face. Yet, it is the protege who sets the pace and the goals. Ballard contends that everyone has a hero inside and longs to rescue people, but the real gift is when you let someone else be the hero and save himself.
The major focus at the Institute is on breaking the cycle of dysfunctional fathering. Proteges are urged to look at relationships with their children in the light of relationships with their own fathers.
Many of the young men would like to establish good relations with their children, but frequently they experience difficulties with the children's mothers, who may have other male partners in their lives. Ballard says these blended family issues, for which counseling is available, are among the toughest to address. In these cases, the safety and well-being of the children is paramount.
Besides Cleveland, currently there are Institutes in Nashville and Washington, DC. Plans are underway to establish sites in Milwaukee; Montgomery, Alabama; New York City; Pittsburgh; Richmond, Virginia; and San Diego. State and local government funds are usually supplemented by grants from private foundations.
Ballard is pleased with the number of proteges who, after leaving the Institute, achieve success on their ownincluding obtaining college degrees. The Institute gets its energy from these achievements, he believes. Each young man's success, he says, strengthens our future work.
For more information about the National Institute for Responsible Fatherhood and Family Development, contact Stacie Banks Hall at (216) 791-1468.
Charles Ballard is the recipient of numerous awards for his work with young men, including an Achievement Medallion in 1990, from President Bush, and the 1993 Distinguished Community Service Award.
A number of organizations have emerged in the last several years that approach the problems surrounding fatherless families and child poverty differently. These organizations are dedicated to working with unmarried fathers, to finding solutions to their problems, to getting them involved and contributing to the care and support of their children.
One such organization, the Philadelphia Children's Network (PCN), was founded in 1990 to improve the life chances of children by facilitating systems change. Its experience, however, led to the conclusion that fixing the system is an essential but insufficient strategy for responding to the needs of children.
Common sense, research, and experience point out the negative effects that the absence of the father can have on family economics, family functioning, and child development. Yet the dialogue can be a difficult one due to unresolved and sensitive issues of race, gender, and class. Each family, each relationship, each situation is different. The PCN believes that our society can move beyond these differences by emphasizing the roles of both parents in improving the prospects for, and well-being of, their children.
Facing several generations of father-absent families, the PCN added to their other focal areasschool readiness and coordination of systemsan emphasis on re-engaging fathers with their families. According to former PCN Executive Director Ralph Smith, now the Director of Planning and Development at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland, the Father Re-Engagement Initiative was designed as a multi-faceted effort.
Common sense, research, and experience point out the negative effects that the absence of the father can have on family economics, family functioning, and child development. It sought to improve the life chances of young children living in single-mother households by encouraging and enabling the fathers of these children to assume their parental roles and become fully involved in caring for and supporting their children and advocating on their behalf.
From the outset, the Father Re-Engagement Initiative was designed to:
A core component of this initiative is the Responsive Fathers Program. It includes a curriculum and group sessions for fathers, as well as case management, employment support, links to educational opportunities, and legal assistance.
Initially, 65 fathers joined the program, 55 of them finding jobs within 3 years. Of the 47 fathers currently participating, 30 are employed. In addition, there have been six marriages since the beginning of the program, and three couples are engaged.
Children-serving organizations such as PCN have learned that we need to take more seriously the task of putting fathers back into families and into family policy.
Many are now convinced that doing so will require action in three distinct areas.
Helping men who are now on the margins of the labor force move into the economic system will not be easy or short-term. But there is growing evidence that committing to this course holds great potential for converting our poorest communities into places where, once again, strong families with contributing fathers can provide what their children need to become, in their turn, responsible and successful adults.
This article was adapted, with permission, from the Georgia Academy Journal. Putting Fathers into Families, was written by Ralph Smith, former Executive Director of PCN and currently the Director of Planning and Development of the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland.
During opening ceremonies, President Cathy Bayse presented OCSE Deputy Director David Gray Ross with a plaque commemorating his innovations in child support enforcement and OCSE's 20th birthday. The conference program stressed UIFSA training and featured a high-tech, computer-based training approach to outreach programs.
In a plenary session, Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, Virginia Delegate David Brickley, and NCSEA President Marilyn Ray Smith discussed welfare reform and how it is likely to impact cities, state legislatures, and IV-D programs.
Other highlights included a mock paternity trial using DNA evidence, the Honorable George Mitchell presiding, and judicial presentations by Judge Zinora Mitchell-Rankin of the District of Columbia; Judge Richard FitzGerald of the Louisville Family Court; and Merry Hofferd of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' Family Violence Project.
But when I looked beyond the moment, I drew strength from knowing that I hadand still havethe most important responsibility in the world, the care of an innocent life. I had to do my best for her because she deserved the best I could provide. No one else could care for her as I.
Always wanting to do the right thing and knowing that I was only human (and only one human at that) and bound to make mistakes, I made three rules for myself: first, if I made a mistake, but made it while trying to do what was best for Cecilia, then I must forgive myself. Next, if I managed to do the right thing half the time, I would be doing a good job. And if better than half the time, so much the better! Finally, I had to take care of myself in order to do my best for Cecilia. I could not go the distance by burning myself out in the short run.
I stick to my rules more than half the time. But there are no rules to help get through the lonely times, the times of doubt and frustration, the feeling there is no rest ahead. Nothing is lonelier than feeling your own pain and loss while knowing you must be a comfort to your child, a child who needs reassurance and wonders why she has been cheated out of having both parents around. At those times, I am forced to draw on sources of strength and hope I never knew I had. I can let up for myself but not for my daughter.
Over the years, I have had help in different ways from friends, family, and other single parents I've met. Some offer moral support or an adult ear to listen to my frustrations. Others help in more tangible ways like child care. It's part of rule three taking care of myself. Still, there are those times when I know I am on my own. There are those times when I feel the pressure of making choices that will change the life of someone I love more than she can dream. It is here that I recall the lesson of the long distance runner: the greatest victory is not gained against others but in discovering new abilities in myselfabilities to help me go the distance for someone who needs my unfailing love and encouragement.
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