Fathers have a powerful and positive impact upon the development and health of children, and they also play a vital role in fueling the nation’s — and their family’s — economic success.
Kids without caring, committed fathers are more likely to grow up in poverty. Absent fathers also increase a child’s likelihood that they will perform poorly in school, struggle with their emotions, engage in risky behaviors and experience violence during their childhood.
Families without fathers also suffer financially. Across America, 35% of all kids — nearly 24 million children — are growing up in a single-parent family. Most these single parents are women, and too many are facing financial hardships. In 2017, for example, 31% of single-parent families had incomes below the poverty line compared to just 7% of married couples with children.
Two reports funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation explore the benefits and challenges that young parents experience when they are working while in school or training. The publications, released by the Urban Institute, highlight the need for policies and programs that help young parents manage their busy schedules and afford their educations.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, with help from the Center for the Study of Social Policy and more than 20 national experts, has created a tool kit to help systems leaders improve their data collection so that they can build better policies and practices for expectant and young parents in foster care.
This tool kit, created by the Annie E. Casey Foundation with help from the Center for the Study of Social Policy and more than 20 national experts, assists systems leaders in gathering, assessing, sharing and leveraging data on expectant and parenting youth in foster care. The end goal? A better, brighter future for these families.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is hosting an Oct. 30 webinar to explore how collective impact strategies have been used to reduce infant mortality and support family well-being in Baltimore, Cincinnati and Cleveland.
This report reminds policymakers and child advocates of the barriers that young families face. It examines national and state-level trends — highlighting areas of opportunity and concern — and then shares potential solutions that can help these families thrive.
Young parents face a host of challenges in their daily lives, from securing adequate child care to advancing their education or landing jobs that can sustain their families, according to a Casey-funded study.
This report covers the challenging terrains of incarceration, reentry and work. It draws on expert interviews, dozens of resources and two decades of strategic investments by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Readers will learn what employment barriers people commonly face after exiting prison or jail and how to help these individuals pursue — and maintain — family-supporting jobs.
This issue of Casey Connects spotlights four initiatives that the Annie E. Casey Foundation has invested in for the last decade: aiding the formerly incarcerated, promoting responsible fatherhood, supporting healthy relationships and tapping into the strengths of faith-based organizations. The end goal in each of these efforts is the same: Give kids in tough communities a better shot at success.
Read the story of Rodney Evans, a former addict who got his life back on track with help from Project RETURN, a support program for ex-prisoners. The Casey Foundation supports reentry work through programs, policies and practices that improve the employment prospects of former prisoners in an effort to reduce recidivism, increase public safety and improve outcomes for children and families affected by incarceration.
This collection of seven briefs has one simple focus: sharing information and insights from 15 years of growth in the Responsible Fatherhood field.
