Child Care Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Involvement by fathers, the development of a positive relationship with their children, and the provision of child support have been shown to have a positive effect on children‘s social, cognitive, and academic achievement, and behavior. Children do better in school when fathers are involved—they get better grades, are less likely to repeat a grade, and are less likely to be expelled. Even for very young children, good fathering contributes to the development of emotional security, curiosity, and math and verbal skills. (Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Through Child Care, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Child Care Bureau, April 2004, p. 1.) http://researchconnections.org/childcare/resources/4398/pdf;jsessionid=0F0A 263730140D8F98F09356DC3E98EB
On the ―Promoting Responsible Fatherhood‖ website of HHS, the value of ―involved fathers‖ to kids‘ education is emphasized as follows: Children with involved, loving fathers are significantly more likely to do well in school, have healthy self-esteem, exhibit empathy and pro-social behavior compared to children who have uninvolved fathers. Committed and responsible fathering during infancy and early childhood contributes emotional security, curiosity, and math and verbal skills. (―Promoting Responsible Fatherhood,‖ Federal Resource Site, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, last revised June 6, 2006.) http://fatherhood.hhs.gov/Parenting/index.shtml
President Barack Obama addressed the importance of fathers in his 2011 Father‘s Day essay; he wrote: Of course, there are plenty of single parents who do a heroic job of raising their kids. I know this because I was fortunate enough to have one--a mother who never allowed my father's absence to be an excuse for slacking off or not doing my best. But more and more kids are growing up today without their dads. And those young folks are more likely to struggle in school, try drugs, get into trouble and even wind up in jail. (Barack Obama, ―President Barack Obama Pens Essay on ‗Being the Father I Never Had,‘‖ People, June 8, 2011.) http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20500603,00.html
A tragic 2011 newspaper account from the city of Youngstown, Ohio (in our MVCAP service area) illustrated the cycle of violence that can befall a fatherless child—and his family; that article, headlined ―Shooting death of son mirrors that of his day,‖ stated: The murder of a South Side teen last week wasn‘t the first time tragedy involving the death of a young father has struck the family. 16