Strengthening Paternal Engagement in Florida’s Child Welfare System Through Father-Informed Solutions

Parent voice is key to understanding how adults move through the child welfare system and how their experiences affect their engagement in the process. In Tallahassee, the Florida Institute for Child Welfare is collaborating with community-based care (CBC) agencies, fathers, and father figures to produce actionable solutions for child welfare agencies to strengthen engagement and address experiences of exclusion.

Key research questions in the JBA-designed project include—

• What are the key touchpoints of paternal engagement along Florida’s child welfare continuum, and which determinants facilitate and/or hinder engagement?
•  Which two continuum points in paternal engagement do fathers consider most critical and feasible to improve?
• Within the local context, which evidence-informed policies, programs, and strategies do fathers believe are the best to improve paternal engagement at the identified continuum points?

JBA supports this project by conducting interviews with CBC staff, structured discussions with a workgroup of fathers and father figures, and a review of relevant child welfare policies. The team is also completing a national scan of promising policies, programs, and strategies to support father engagement. Workgroup participants are slated to review and prioritize the identified strategies, while CBC administrators are requested to weigh in on their feasibility and potential implementation in context.