Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-15-2024
Abstract
The Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grant program is one of the most robust mechanisms supporting fatherhood programming in the United States, with the gold standard of care including fatherhood curriculum (e.g., 24/7 Dad®) and case management services. Despite the fact that fatherhood in the United States is not a monolith and Black fathers make up over 40% of those served through Responsible Fatherhood (RF) program, little research explicitly centers the lived experiences of low-income Black fathers. The current study used focus groups with fathers (n = 23) and staff (n = 8) enrolled in a RF grantee program. Thematic analysis was used to determine programmatic mechanisms supporting these fathers' success and areas for improvement. Our findings highlight that the creation of a “safe space” by facilitators and the power of the group dynamic were essential elements for fathers' success overall. We also identified numerous programmatic mechanisms supporting Black fathers' success specific to fathering, healthy relationships, and economic stability. Finally, we highlighted important limitations that may impede the success of low-income, Black fathers related to the 24/7 Dad® curriculum, engagement efforts, and economic stability, and discuss related practice, policy, and research recommendations.
Keywords
24/7 Dad®, Black fathers, fatherhood, National Fatherhood Initiative
Language
English
Publication Title
Family Process
Rights
© The Author(s) 2024. This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Voith, L. A., Russell, K. N., Withrow, A., Kearney, J., Xia, T., &Coleman, D. (2024). Elevating Black fathers' experiences in the National FatherhoodInitiative: Strengths and areas for improvement of 24/7 Dad® curriculum and casemanagement services. Family Process, 63(4), 1926–1946. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.13036
Manuscript Version
Final Publisher Version