Healing and Supporting Fathers: Principles, Practices, and Resources for Fatherhood Programs to Help Address and Prevent Domestic Violence

Domestic violence (DV) is a widespread problem in the United States. Experiencing and/or witnessing violence in relationships can negatively affect the health of parents and their children. Therefore, any program that works with families should play a part in preventing and addressing domestic violence. Fatherhood programs provide an opportunity to engage fathers in these efforts. This document includes:

• Background information to help fatherhood programs better understand DV
• Foundational principles fatherhood programs can adopt to address and prevent DV
• Descriptions of promising practices already being used by some fatherhood programs
• Recommended future directions for fatherhood programs, based on current challenges in the field

This document also provides three practical resources that can help fatherhood practitioners work more effectively with fathers who use or have used DV and/or are survivors of such violence. Also included is a list of additional resources that provide more information on these topics.