Father absence is also common in the child welfare system. When multiple children are system-involved, there is a high frequency of cases that involve multiple non-resident fathers. Sometimes fathers are unknown or legal paternity has not been established. Moreover, available statistics show that a large percentage of children in the foster system have non-resident fathers.

According to the Adoption Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data, on September 30, 2005, there were 513,000 children placed in foster care within the United States. Other data and research indicates that most foster children are not living with their fathers at the time they are removed from their homes. An incalculable number of children and youth also enter the child welfare system but are not removed from the home; many of them also have non-resident fathers who live outside the home.

Data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Child Maltreatment 2005 shows that child abuse and/or neglect victims came from single parent, mother only households more often than any other living arrangement type. Moreover, of the 28 states reporting, 11.1 percent of child victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment were from married parent households, while 17.7 percent of victims came from mother only households and 1.9 percent of victims came from father only households.

A 2005 report assessing National Child Abuse and Neglect System (NCANDS) data from 2002, showed that females outnumbered male perpetrators among cases investigated by child welfare agencies by approximately 10 percent. The study also found that more than half of male perpetrators were biological fathers but almost one quarter were father figures, such as stepfathers or mothers’ boyfriends. These statistics regarding perpetrators also support data showing that child maltreatment victims frequently have fathers who live outside the home.

Moreover, although paternity is known for more than 80 percent of foster children with non-resident fathers and for other children served by child welfare agencies, once in foster care they have little contact with their fathers. In November 2003, the Urban Institute issued a brief on Getting Noncustodial Dads Involved in the Lives of Foster Children. (Malm, 2003). That brief noted:

• Only 54 percent of foster children had contact with their fathers in the past year;
• 66 percent of comparable children served by child welfare agencies had contact with their fathers in the past year; and
• 72 percent of children in the general population had contact with their fathers in the past year.

References

The AFCARS Report: Preliminary Estimates for Fiscal Year 2005 as of September 2006.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, 2006.

Male Perpetrators of Child Maltreatment: Findings from NCANDS. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2005.

Malm, Karin. “Getting Noncustodial Dads Involved in the Lives of Foster Children.” Caring for Children: Facts and Perspectives Brief No. 3, November 2003.

National Child Welfare Resource Center for Family Centered Practice, Best Practice/Next Practice, Summer, 2002.

National Family Preservation Network (NFPN), An Assessment of Child Welfare Practices Regarding Fathers 2001.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. Child Maltreatment 2005. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007. (Data source: Child File).

U.S. Census Bureau. Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2002, P20-547, Table C3. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2003.