New from the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse! |
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Happy August from the NRFC. August is Child Support Awareness month, a national campaign aimed to spread awareness about child support services. This month, we will provide fathers and programs with some ideas and resources to help dads navigate child support.
We also recognize the challenges our country has been facing that have had an impact on all of us. As President Johnson once said, “Our lives have been marked with debate about great issues. But rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, our welfare or our security, but rather to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved Nation.” Dads, we have provided some resources that you can use to talk to your children about current events. Know that the NRFC is here as a resource for you and your families during these volatile times.
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As a reminder, the best way to prevent the spread of germs is handwashing. It involves five simple and effective steps (Wet, Lather, Scrub, Rinse, Dry).
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August is Child Support Awareness Month, a time to share information with families and caregivers about child support. Did you know every state has a division of child support? Each state has their own system for working with child support, and the resources that are available differ by state. Whether you are looking for help in collecting child support or help changing an order, the best thing to do is contact your local office and ask what documents you need and how to get the help you are looking for. If you are new to the child support process, this video is a very good short overview to introduce you to the topic.
If you are a dad and do not live with your child full time, this may be very challenging for you. You might feel as if you don’t get to see your child as often as you would like, and that when you do see him or her, there’s pressure to make the most of your time together. Unfortunately, kids can sense that stress and pressure, and it can change the interactions you have with them. A great article from Fathers.com highlights a few suggestions that may help support you through this tough situation. Author William Klatte also provides Five Goals for Live-Away Dads. These goals can help you to maintain consistency and bonding with your children if you live apart from them.
Finally, we want to recognize the challenges we are facing today and provide some ways you can address them with your kids. No matter how much we want to shield our children, kids will likely overhear conversations and see media images they don’t understand. The National Museum of African American History and Culture recently launched Talking About Race, a web portal with resources to help parents and teachers navigate this discussion with concrete tools.
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Children's books are one of the most effective tools to engage with young children on complex issues. To encourage conversations about race and diversity with your children, check out this list of books from PBS for Kids to read together as a family.
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Have you benefited from participating in a fatherhood program? If so, please share your experience with us and the name of the program/city/state. #ConnectingDad #fatherhoodgov.
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Programs play an important role helping fathers understand the child support system. This webinar from 2016 recognizes child support awareness month and discusses how fatherhood programs and local child support offices are working together to strengthen families.
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A recently publish paper from ACF, Millennials in the Child Support Program: Story Behind the Numbers, examines various characteristics of millennial custodial and noncustodial parents in the child support program. Millennials are the largest generation of custodial parents in the program. Through a deeper understanding of the trends in child support program data and other data that affects the program, the Story Behind the Numbers series aims to inform policy and practice and strengthen program outcomes.
Finally, an NRFC Blog post from 2019, Non-Residential Fathers and Child Support: Innovations and Partnerships highlights four child support enforcement agencies who experimented with implementing behaviorally-informed interventions in working with non-residential fathers. The intervention results are extremely promising, relatively low-cost, and highly scalable–meaning they can easily be applied to a larger setting. Check out this great read and the additional resources provided.
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Disclaimer: Reference to specific products, services, or companies does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by the U.S. Government, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), or the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse. ACF is not responsible for the contents of “off-site” web page references or for any private, third-party, pop-up, or browser-integrated software or applications. |
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Upcoming Events
NRFC is monitoring events and will update our website and in newsletters if events are cancelled.
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You have new options for engaging with peers and keeping up with the latest information in the Fatherhood field.
The NRFC Virtual Collaborative Community (VCC) is designed to help and strengthen fatherhood programs, and all who work to support fathers, families, and children. As a member of the VCC, you can engage with peers on Fatherhood topics by creating or joining a group, discuss research and program tips on the Resources pages, and more. Easily join the NRFC Virtual Collaborative Community by creating a profile using your email address and enjoy all the networking and other benefits it has to offer.
Also, check out the new look of the Fatherhood.gov site. It features the same great content you rely on–Responsible Fatherhood topics of interest, Dad Jokes, the DadTalk blog, and the NRFC library of research and resources–now easier to explore! We’ve also added searchable lists of Program Activities (for engaging fathers) and Kid Activities (for dads to do with kids). So check out the new Fatherhood.gov and join the NRFC Virtual Collaborative Community.
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Our Mission: The goals of the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse are to provide, facilitate, and disseminate current research and proven and innovative strategies that will encourage and strengthen fathers and families and providers of services.
Our Resources: Visit the NRFC website for fatherhood topics and tools, news, and new publications, which can be found through the NRFC online library search.
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