The Father Factor
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Fatherhood blog by the National Fatherhood Initiative®. NFI equips organizations and communities to intentionally and proactively engage fathers in programs and social services. Our blog gives tips on everything you need to know to serve fathers.
Key topics include General Fatherhood Program resources, Research studies, Program recruitment and Retention, Success stories, Tips & tricks.
The Father Factor
35m ago
Is your program evidence-based?
Is your program evidence-informed?
Is your program well-supported?
Is your program promising?
Is your program listed in a clearinghouse?
As more human service organizations choose or are required to use evidence-based parenting programs, National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI) has seen a significant increase in those types of questions about our programs.
How does our staff answer them? It depends on the program, of course. More importantly, it depends on the basis for our answers. I’ll share that basis shortly, particularly in answering whether a program is evid ..read more
The Father Factor
1w ago
As more studies are conducted over the years, we gain a better understanding of the positive impact that an involved father can have on children, as well as the negative effects of father absence. Once a significant number of new studies are available, National Fatherhood Initiative® updates its flagship publication, Father Facts™. Lucky for us, it’s that time again! Father Facts™ 9 is here and packed with valuable insights into father involvement and father presence data and research!
Let's take a moment to see where we’ve come from.
Looking back at father absence research
From its hum ..read more
The Father Factor
3w ago
How can you get more dads to attend your program and ensure they keep coming back? Most dads aren’t sitting around asking what they can do to be better dads, after all.
I have one word that can help you increase father engagement…
Incentives!
Incentives are a powerful tool for recruiting and retaining dads in your fatherhood program.
How can you leverage them for the best results?
The first step is to identify the types of incentives you can offer. Here are a few categories:
Incentives that address wants and needs. These incentives include helping dads obtain employment, advance their educat ..read more
The Father Factor
1M ago
March 26, 2024
How to Involve Dads in Family Resource & Support Centers Workshop
Please join National Fatherhood Initiative® for a webinar that promises to transform how Family Resource and Support Centers engage fathers in their programs. "How to Involve Dads in Family Resource & Support Centers Workshop" is designed to equip you with tools and insights to turn your intention of involving dads into action.
This workshop webinar is necessary for anyone involved in family support services who wants to be more father-inclusive. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to the field ..read more
The Father Factor
1M ago
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Do you serve dads who are involved with your state’s child welfare agency?
If so, you undoubtedly know about the struggle many dads have in navigating that agency effectively. Dads get lost in understanding how to engage with that agency to prevent losing their children or reuniting with them after a forced separation.
The Struggle is Real
The primary reason for this struggle is the lack of proactive inclusion of dads by child welfare agencies. Indeed, a comprehensive review of state child welfare agencies revealed that:
Many of their data systems make it ..read more
The Father Factor
2M ago
Proportion of American Children Living with a Father in the Home Reaches 34-Year High As more U.S. children grow up with involved fathers, trends in father presence are supported by nationwide efforts to build capacity in organizations to engage and serve fathers.
GERMANTOWN, Md. – Jan. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ - Data released in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 Current Population Survey (CPS) reveal that the proportion of children growing up with a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home is now at the highest since 1989. Approximately 75%, or 54.5 million of the country's 72.3 ..read more
The Father Factor
2M ago
What’s the most fascinating, new area of fatherhood research?
For a research nerd like me, it’s the biological connection between dads and their children. I’m not talking about the DNA dads contribute to their offspring. I’m talking about the changes that take place in dads’ biology during the prenatal and postnatal periods that prepare them for the most vital role of their life.
That’s why I was so pleased to run across the best, concise summary I’ve seen of this burgeoning and exciting area of research. The article below appeared in the Child and Family Blog, a recent addition to our Free ..read more
The Father Factor
3M ago
Grab a pen or pencil. (Take your time. I’ll wait.)
If you serve dads, write down your work’s impact in helping them become more involved in their children’s lives. If you don’t serve dads yet, write down the impact you hope you’ll have in helping them become more involved.
Now count the number of impacts that are immediate or short-term (within five years).
Then, count the long-term impacts (five years or more) and compare the two figures.
I’ll bet you identified more short-term than long-term impacts.
I didn’t ask you to go through this exercise to place more or less value on either length o ..read more
The Father Factor
3M ago
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Prompt: "An abstract image that conveys the idea of workers in an organization improving their job performance by using artificial intelligence."
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is becoming a game-changer for organizations. And at National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI), it’s making us a better fatherhood partner.
Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t new. It’s been around for years. Its applications are boundless, from self-driving cars to songwriting. What makes GenAI different is its ability to take inputs and “generate” ne ..read more
The Father Factor
4M ago
If I asked you to guess what the best piece of news National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI) could receive, what would you say?
If you said something along the lines of, “The proportion of children living with their dads is higher than at any time in the past 30 years,” you’re spot on. (Okay. The title of this article gave it away.)
One of my roles at NFI is to monitor the release of the annual data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau that we use to track the impact of our organization and the thousands of our partners across this country working to increase the proportion of children growing up ..read more