THE FATHERS AND FAMILY FORUM
Building Family Foundations Through Policy and Practice
Single, But Not Separate Families
Women applying for welfare, men fathering children out-of-wedlock. Both strike the stereotypical impression of irresponsibility, but new research suggests these individuals don't live up to this image. The Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Studies, conducted out of Columbia University, are finding that although low-income men and women are having children out of wedlock, they are in committed relationships and both have high expectations about the future of their relationship but struggle with low-wage employment and poor education. The studies interview both men and women soon after childbirth, then again after one year.
Traditionally, assumptions made for low-income women applying for welfare has been that the father of her children is absent, uninvolved and unsupportive. While undoubtedly true for some, for others it appears that the men are involved, supportive and present during the first few years after their children are born. Additionally, it is clear that both low-income men and women share many of the same characteristics-a high-school diploma, low-wage employment and sporadic employment.
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Snapshot Findings |
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Parental Relationship at time of Birth
More than 80 percent of couples are romantically involved or cohabitating Almost half of mothers and fathers say marriage is better for children
70 percent of mothers say chances of marriage are at least fifty percent
86 percent of fathers say chances of marriage are at least fifty percent |
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Perceptions about marriage and relationships
Mothers and fathers say the 2 biggest sources of conflict are
Money
Time |
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Mothers and fathers say the top 3 elements to a successful marriage are:
Husband has a job
Maturity
Wife has a job |
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Father Contribution and Father Involvement
More than 90 percent of women want the father involved; 99 percent of fathers want to be involved-regardless of their relationship status
Mothers report 85 percent of fathers contributed financially during pregnancy, 75 percent made informal types of contributions
Mothers and fathers indicate that a father's ability to show affection is more important than money |
This new knowledge provides policymakers an opportunity to intervene before families resort to welfare as a form of support. Some options for states include: allowing both mothers and fathers access to employment services, suspending child support orders for co-habiting couples-reinstating them if couples separate and connecting new parents with relationship and life skills services. Such strategies are not meant to encourage unwed child-bear ing, but to approach many low-income couples at a stage in their relationship where they can be assisted in achieving long-term stability as a two-parent family. Given the high rates of poverty and risk factors associated with children who grow up in poverty, states have an interest in assuring children are raised with the advantage that two involved parents can provide.
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