Healthy coparenting and romantic relationships are important for fathers and their children. They can improve fathers’ mental health and well-being and increase their involvement with their children, and parents who have high-quality relationships can support their children’s health and positive development. Many fatherhood programs, including federally funded Responsible Fatherhood (RF) programs, aim to support fathers’ coparenting and romantic relationships by promoting relationship skills such as communication, conflict resolution, and problem solving.
The Coparenting and Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education for Dads (CHaRMED) project built knowledge on how fatherhood programs design and deliver coparenting and romantic relationship services—and how fathers perceive and engage in those services—to help ensure that these programs are better equipped to support fathers’ healthy relationships. The CHaRMED project was conducted by Child Trends, funded by the Office of Family Assistance, and overseen by the Administration of Children and Families’ (ACF) Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE).
As part of the CHaRMED project, Child Trends engaged in the following study activities from 2018 to 2022:
- Described the characteristics and qualities of the romantic and coparenting relationships of fathers who are likely to participate in fatherhood programs
- Documented current services offered by RF programs in the areas of coparenting and romantic relationships
- Sought participant and program staff perspectives on coparenting and romantic relationship services, and how these services might be improved
- Identified gaps in existing approaches to romantic relationship and coparenting services and identified other approaches and/or resources relevant to address those gaps
Project activities were informed by a variety of sources, including RF grantee continuation applications and progress reports, a literature review and analysis of Supporting Healthy Marriages (SHM) data related to the quality of fathers’ romantic and coparenting relationships, discussions with fatherhood program and research experts, and a qualitative data collection (described below).
The larger CHaRMED project included a qualitative study consisting of semi-structured telephone interviews with fatherhood program staff (n= 24), participating fathers (n= 36), and coparents of participating fathers (n= 6) representing nine fatherhood programs across the United States. The interviews assessed fathers’ and program staff’s perceptions of coparenting and romantic relationship services, fathers’ engagement in the services, and perspectives on how fatherhood programs support (or could better support) fathers’ and families’ needs. Interviews were transcribed and coded for emerging themes, and supplemented by a review of program curricula to determine the focus, goals, duration, and target audiences for relationship-related program content.
Publications
Coparenting and Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education for Dads (CHaRMED): Results from a Qualitative Study of Staff and Participant Experiences in Nine Fatherhood Programs
This report presents findings from a qualitative study conducted as part of the CHaRMED project. Its purpose is to inform both ACF and the broader fatherhood practice and research fields about how fatherhood programs support or could better support fathers’ healthy coparenting and romantic relationships.
Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic for Supporting Fathers’ Relationships in Fatherhood Programs
This brief describes how the COVID-19 pandemic affected fathers’ coparenting and romantic relationships, describes the pandemic’s impacts on relationship programming, and offers strategies for fatherhood programs to better support fathers’ relationships.
Fatherhood Programs Can Support Fathers’ Healthy Relationships With Children and Coparents
This blog briefly summarizes five important lessons learned from the CHaRMED project that can inform how fatherhood program practitioners support fathers’ relationships and improve their—and their families’—well-being.
Resources for Supporting Healthy Relationships in Fatherhood Programs
This brief identified common barriers that fatherhood programs face when addressing healthy relationships with fathers. Barriers include engaging fathers in romantic relationship content, implementing approaches for coparent engagement in relationship education, and providing support for fathers navigating legal systems that can affect their coparenting relationships.
The resources included in this brief offer strategies to help fatherhood programs overcome these barriers and better support the fathers in their programs. Specifically, the resources offer strategies fatherhood program staff can use to tailor romantic relationship program content to fathers’ differing strengths and needs and increase engagement in romantic relationships services, to engage coparents in programming, and to help fathers navigate or self-advocate within these legal and social systems.
Fatherhood and coparenting: Strategies for supporting coparenting relationships from a fatherhood perspective
This short article describes how findings from the CHaRMED study, particularly that fathers' view access to their children as a key challenge in their lives, are relevant for child welfare and other social services agencies focused on engaging fathers in services and supporting coparenting relationships.
Presentations and Webinars
How Fatherhood Programs Engage Fathers to Promote Healthy Relationships (Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS), 2020)
This presentation, part of a panel presentation entitled “Engaging Fathers Across Human Service Agencies,” describes the CHaRMED study and objectives and the study’s sample, and explores observations from the data collection process, including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
How Fatherhood Programs Engage Fathers to Promote Healthy Relationships (Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Conference, 2020)
This presentation, part of a panel presentation entitled “Engaging Fathers Across Human Services Agencies,” shares experiences and challenges from ongoing data collection efforts, as well as implications for engaging fathers in content related to healthy relationships.
How Fatherhood Programs Support Fathers’ Coparenting and Romantic Relationships (National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) Conference, 2021)
This poster presentation shares key findings from interviews with fatherhood program staff, participating fathers, and coparents of participating fathers conducted as part of the CHaRMED qualitative study.
Supporting Healthy Coparenting and Intimate Relationships in Fatherhood Programs
This webinar highlighted findings from the CHaRMED study and provided practitioners with strategies that can be used to support fathers’ relationships. Representatives from four fatherhood programs shared their experiences addressing coparenting and romantic or intimate partner relationships with fathers. Various topics were covered, including the relationship services offered by programs, ways to address coparenting and coparent engagement in programming, how to support fathers who are navigating legal and/or social systems, and approaches to delivering relationship programming virtually.
Project Team
- Mindy E. Scott, PhD (mscott@childtrends.org)
- April Wilson, PhD (awilson@childtrends.org)
- Samantha Ciaravino, MPH (sciaravino@childtrends.org)
- Andrea Vazzano, MPH (avazzano@childtrends.org)
- Elizabeth Karberg, PhD (ekarberg@childtrends.org)
- Abigail Wulah, MPH (awulah@childtrends.org)
Contracting Office Representatives
- Nicole Constance, Project Officer (nicole.constance@acf.hhs.gov)
- Kathleen McCoy, Project Monitor (kathleen.mccoy@acf.hhs.gov)