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Ŕ Successful STEPS program at Connections to Success (CtS). Successful STEPS operates in Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri. CtS has a history of providing personal development and employment services to prison reentry populations. Low-income fathers who do not have serious substance abuse or mental health issues, or criminal histories related to sexual misconduct, are eligible for services. The program includes a cohort-based daily workshop that lasts two and a half weeks and integrates content in personal development, employment, and parenting. A separate, open-entry workshop that is offered weekly delivers relationship content for graduates of the integrated workshop. CtS partners with a domestic violence organization and the Kansas and Missouri child support agencies to provide services. Ŕ Family Formation Program at Fathers’ Support Center (FSC). The Family Formation Program

operates in St. Louis, Missouri. FSC has guided low-income fathers to be self-sufficient, responsible, and committed to strong family relationships for over 15 years; fathers who have at least one child under 10 years old are eligible. Fathers with substance abuse problems must attend treatment and pass drug screenings while in the program. The program consists of a six-week cohort-based daily workshop that integrates personal development, parenting, employment, and healthy relationship content. FSC partners with a domestic violence organization, the Missouri child support agency, and two local employment agencies to provide services.

Ŕ The FATHER Project at Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota. The FATHER Project operates in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. For over 15 years it has provided employment and parenting services to fathers who are unemployed or have trouble paying child support. Low-income fathers between the ages of 17 and 40 who do not have a criminal history related to sexual misconduct or domestic violence are eligible. The program includes three open-entry workshops: weekly parenting and healthy relationship workshops, and a single-day employment workshop. All participants must first attend a two-day orientation. The FATHER Project partners with a number of organizations for service delivery, including county child support agencies, an organization that provides culturally sensitive services to Spanish- speaking parents, an organization providing legal services, and an early childhood education and home visiting program.

Ŕ The Center for Fathering at Urban Ventures (UV). The Center for Fathering operates in Minneapolis, Minnesota. UV has a two-decade history of providing parenting services to low-income fathers, with a focus on African American men. Low-income fathers over 18, from any background, are eligible for program services. The program consists of three separate open-entry weekly workshops in parenting, relationship skills, and employment services. UV partners with the county child support agency and a domestic violence organization.

MATHEMATICA POLICY RESEARCH

VII. EXPERIENCES IN RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD PROGRAMS

ŏI know how it feels when a child doesn’t have their parent around. So, I went to Fathers’ Support [Center] to get some more parenting skills . . .” Marcus

Many fathers felt they lacked basic child-rearing skills because their own fathers were absent or minimally involved. For these men, the experience of their own father’s absence often galvanized their desire to be present in their children’s lives. For example, Marcus told an interviewer, “I know how it feels when a child doesn’t have their parent around. So, I went to Fathers’ Support [Center] to get some more parenting skills . . . for me to raise my daughter [better].” Martin, an expectant first-time father, enrolled because he was eager for any information on parenting he could glean: “I wasn’t even a father yet. I was like yeah I’m going to need everything they’re going to tell us. . . . Tips on how to raise our children, how to bond with them.”

Even years after being separated from their children, some fathers were drawn to an RF program out of a desire to reconnect with them. Although Zakary saw his younger children regularly, it had been three years since he had seen his oldest child:

I’m not making any excuses for what I did. But I changed. I went to school. I graduated. I started going to therapy, anger management . . . [and to] these parenting classes [at Urban Ventures] because I wanted to get a better relationship with my children. I wanted to learn how to start listening to my kids . . . and pay attention to them.

Gaining greater access to their children was a motivating factor for several fathers. Some were trying to negotiate better access informally, but others wanted to establish legal rights to visit their children, and some aspired to play a greater decision-

making role in their children’s lives. Fathers in both groups were often eager for more information about their rights, as well as what steps they could take to secure

For example, a father of one, J.T., told us, “I just wanted to know answers to my questions about my daughter, what rights I had [to see her] and all of that.” Similarly, Sammy, 27, explained, “I needed some type of information on what to do about me not being able to see my child like I want to.” Leroy, who has one child, hoped the