Fatherhood

It’s important to focus specifically on fathers in research, practice, and policy making given the positive and unique role fathers can play in their children’s lives. At Child Trends, we recognize the value of supporting and enhancing fathers’ engagement with their children across diverse family types and living arrangements, and through all child developmental stages. Child Trends has conducted fatherhood-focused research and evaluation on men’s fertility and family formation behaviors, adolescent fatherhood, fathers’ parenting and coparenting relationships, engaging fathers in efforts to prevent intimate partner violence, and fathers’ involvement in the justice system. We also study fathers with diverse racial and ethnic identities. Through this work, we have increased the fatherhood research and practice fields’ understanding of effective and promising practices for programs that aim to improve fathers’ parenting skills, healthy romantic and coparenting relationships, and economic self-sufficiency.