November 2010Vol. 11, No. 9Site Visit: Supporting Nonresident Fathers in Texas

The National Quality Improvement Center for Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System (QIC NRF) made grants in 2008 to projects in four States to support peer groups for nonresident fathers whose children are in foster care. One of the grant projects is the Fatherhood Coalition of Tarrant County, Texas, operated by a partnership between 21 father-focused organizations and the State's Child Protective Services (CPS) division. The project has four main components:

• Identifying and locating nonresident fathers whose children are in foster care
• Providing curriculum-driven peer support groups for these fathers
• Providing training to child welfare workers on father engagement
• Establishing a Fathers Advisory Council

Peer support groups met for 20 weeks, using a curriculum developed by the QIC-NRF for the first 12 weeks. The goal of the groups was to support fathers in their engagement with their children. The curriculum covered such topics as parenting, the child welfare system, the juvenile court system, and workforce issues.

Between August 2008 and March 2010, the Tarrant County Fatherhood Coalition held peer support groups for seven cohorts of fathers. An average of 2.4 fathers completed the sessions. Project staff conducted baseline interviews with 47 fathers, covering such topics as employment, education, health, transportation, prior contact with CPS, child support obligations, relationship with their children's mother, and information about the children. Interviews were also conducted with some of the fathers at Weeks 8 and 16. Project staff offered the following observations about fathers' experiences with the support group:

• The fathers who consented to participate tended to be fathers who were engaged with their children.
• Those who participated in the groups gained valuable support, although the small size of the groups had a negative impact on the project's implementation.
• Fathers noted that persistent phone calls were the best way to encourage their participation in a group.
• The males-only group dynamic was very beneficial for the fathers and for group success.

Project staff felt that the project's biggest impact actually occurred with CPS staff and the child welfare system. Several trainings were conducted on father engagement, including one for 350 workers in 19 counties. The majority of workers surveyed after this large training indicated that they had increased their knowledge about the importance of father involvement and the barriers fathers face with the child welfare system. Other trainings focused on topics such as pulling historical paternal information from case files and locating fathers. Some trainings included a panel of fathers who discussed their experiences with the child welfare system.

While funding for the Fatherhood Coalition project ended in September 2010, the project continues to work on ways to disseminate the information they collected and sustain the useful components of the project such as family finding, support for fathers, the Fathers Advisory Council (which may be formed statewide), and changes to the data collection system to focus more on paternal information.

For more information on this project, visit the Fatherhood Coalition website:
www.tarrantfatherhood.org/projects.php

Or visit the QIC NRF website:
www.abanet.org/child/fathers

Or contact Karen Bird, QIC NRF Project Coordinator for Tarrant County, at fatherhoodCTC@gmail.com