ABSTRACT
Nonmarital childbearing has increased dramatically during the past 40 years, with one third of births now occurring outside of marriage. Although this trend has received considerable attention from both researchers and policymakers as it relates to women and children, the role of unmarried fathers has been largely overlooked beyond their provision (or lack of provision) of financial support. Only recently-as new data have become available-have researchers begun to explore the nature of relationships between unmarried parents and the role of unmarried fathers in the lives of their children. This new research has yielded some surprising findings that deconstruct myths about “absent fathers” and point to ways that policymakers might strengthen fathers’ involvement with their children. In this chapter, we describe trends in nonmarital childbearing since the mid1900s. We define the concept of fragile families and describe relationships in these families. Then, we explain how father involvement is important for children. Finally, we discuss how public policies-welfare, child support, and fatherhood programs-affect father involvement in fragile families.
