Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been postponed.
In Doing the Best I Can, Kathy Edin and Tim Nelson paint a vivid picture of urban fatherhood in the 21st century. Moving past two-dimensional stereotypes about “deadbeat dads” who don’t care about their kids, the ethnographers tell a more nuanced story about low-income fathers that has implications for policies such as child-support enforcement. The program is at the center of calls for reform that include regularly incorporating visitation into child-support orders, improving customer service, and improving system approaches to fathers with employment barriers that affect their ability to pay support.
The stakes are high—increased income for single-mother families, social supports for dads, and improved father-child relationships.
This panel will discuss the realities of low-income families and the potential child-support reforms that could improve their outcomes.
Featured panelists:
Lisalyn Jacobs, Vice President, Legal Momentum
Timothy Nelson, Co-Author, Doing the Best I Can: Fatherhood in the Inner City; Professor, Harvard University
Ron Scott, Program Manager, DC Fathering Court
Vicki Turetsky, Commissioner for the Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Moderated by:
Joy Moses, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for American Progress