Lessons Learned from Early Head Start for Fatherhood Research and Program Development

Abstract

This Special Issue presents a series of studies on men who functioned as fathers in the Early Head Start National Evaluation Study. The pieces focused on how these men viewed themselves as fathers, what they did with and for their children, how that mattered in the lives of children, and what Early Head Start programs were doing to try to foster positive involvement of fathers in the lives of their children. This final article reflects on those efforts and tries to place them in the broader literature on family life among the poor and governmental efforts to assist those families. Special attention is given to the complexity of family life in the 21st century and to the challenges that face men who are often trying to parent in highly uncertain and unstable conditions.