Social Work Commons^™

Enhancing Paternal Engagement In A Coparenting Paradigm, Marsha Kline Pruett, Kyle D. Pruett, Carolyn P. Cowan, Philip A. Cowan

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Despite the benefits for children and families of fathers who are involved positively with their children, most parenting programs in the United States and globally focus on and collect evaluation data from mothers almost exclusively. Engaging fathers is still viewed as a complex endeavor that is only somewhat successful. In this article, we summarize what is known about engaging fathers in parenting programs, then argue that programs are most effective when coparenting is the focus early in family formation. We rely on two decades of the Supporting Father Involvement program as an example of an initiative that has been effective …