Select Committee on Children

JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT

SPONSORS OF BILL:

Select Committee on Children Senator Gary LeBeau

REASONS FOR BILL:

This bill is designed to set-up a task force to study the cause of fatherlessness in Connecticut and to encourage non-custodial fathers to become more involved in their children's lives.

RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:

Karen Foley-Schain, Executive Director, Children's Trust Fund: The Children's Trust Fund would like to be a member of the task force to study the causes of fatherlessness. They are working with “several hundred high risk father who have or are at risk of abandoning their children. Through these efforts we have access to important first-hand information that can inform the study.”

Susan I. Hamilton, Commissioner, Department of Children and Families: The Department feels that the establishment of a task force “may not be necessary given the ongoing interagency work on fatherhood initiatives generally. However, the Department remains invested in working together with sister agencies, the provider community, parent advocates, the legislature and other stakeholders in promoting healthy and permanent connections between fathers and their children.”

Elaine Zimmerman, Executive Director, Commission on Children: Several years ago, a Fatherhood Council was established. This council represented key agencies in the executive and judicial branch of government in addition to advocates and community based agencies. “The Commission recommends that the Task Force link to the existing Fatherhood Council to leverage the wealth of expertise and experience they have in addressing this issue.” The task force can concentrate on bringing fathers back into the lives of their children. She also advocates for “inclusion in the budget of funds to support and expand these important fatherhood programs in Connecticut.”

Frank Sykes, Legislative Analyst, African-American Affairs Commission: “The value of fathers in developing young males into mature adults cannot be underestimated.” It is estimated that 50% of African-American households are headed by a single parent, usually a female. It is also said that lack of a male role model can lead to gang association in youths in order to resemble a 'caring' male adult. The Commission would also like to lend itself to be used as a resource in the study.

NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:

Karen Foley-Schain, Executive Director, Children's Trust Fund: The Children's Trust Fund would like to be a member of the task force to study the causes of fatherlessness. They are working with “several hundred high risk father who have or are at risk of abandoning their children. Through these efforts we have access to important first-hand information that can inform the study.”

Senator Gary LeBeau: 70% of the American population believes that physical absence of the father from the home is the most significant problem facing America. In 1960, 88% of children were living with two parents. In the year 2004, 68% are living with two parents. He believes that lack of the biological father in the household is not only a precursor to poverty but also a result of it. “Criminality rates are much higher. Dropout rates are much higher. Obviously lower retention rates and these children have greater emotional and behavioral problems.”

Michael Culhane, Executive Director, Connecticut Catholic Conference: The lack of a father in the household is becoming a major problem in society. Studies have shown that fatherlessness leads to an “increase in child poverty, juvenile delinquency among male minors, and the early onset of sexual activity among young girls.” Instances of child abuse in households where the child is living with the biological mother but an unrelated male are also increasing. “Children need not only the presence of a loving mother, but also that of a loving father, to stand the best chance for being successful in life.”

Peter Wolfgang, President, Family Institute of Connecticut Action: The plight of fatherless children received renewed attention in our state last November 21^st when the Hartford Courant reported on two-year-old Treau Bemis of Groton and two-year-old Nathan Murphy of Norwich. Both Connecticut toddlers were murdered within the space of a month allegedly by their mother's boyfriends… “We seek a restored consensus on the vital role of both a mother and a father in nurturing and supporting their children and a government that weighs the impact on the family of its policies and laws.”

Matthew Walker, on behalf of Dr. Timothy Black, Center for Social Research, University of Hartford: Matthew and Dr. Tim Black have worked together to design a 3-year study to examine the lives of fathers living on the “economic and social margins in Connecticut to better understand their conceptions and practices of fatherhood, as we as the barriers they face in being nurturing fathers.” The fathers will be identified through the Nurturing Families Network program, a statewide home visitation program for vulnerable first-time mothers. Matthew will be studying 50 fathers over a period of two to three years and hopes to be able to recommend public policies and program services to help the fathers and their relationships with their children. Between 2000 and 2003, the Center conducted a study of the Department of Social Services' Fatherhood Initiative. This study studied 300 non-custodial fathers and identified many of the “systemic barriers that these men face in their fathering practices, the social stigma attached to being formerly incarcerated, limited educational attainment and job skills, a lack of nurturing parenting models, and relationship problems, often associated with poverty and social marginality.” What they also found was that “every father we interviewed expressed a strong desire to be a good father—and many expressed this as the desire to be the fathers their fathers were not.” It has been determined that the desire to father exists and if it can be proven to be “an exit route from the streets for many men,” what is it that can be done to reduce these barriers that prevent fathers from developing relationships with their children? He is also a non-custodial parent who plans on becoming involved in his six-month-old son's life. He believes that if lawmakers are part of the study they can implement public policies and “modify program practices” based on what is discovered in the study that fathers can be made better in CT.

NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:

Susan I. Hamilton, Commissioner, Department of Children and Families: The Department does not feel that the establishment of a task force “may not be necessary given the ongoing interagency work on fatherhood initiatives generally. However, the Department remains invested in working together with sister agencies, the provider community, parent advocates, the legislature and other stakeholders in promoting healthy and permanent connections between fathers and their children.”