Concurrent Sessions 5 - (NBCC CE Credit: #1 hr and Conference Attendance Credit: #1 hr)

216-01: Dads Uplifting Dads: A Community-Based Initiative to Support Father Involvement
Kyle Miller, Dorothy Davis

Summary
This Community-Based Participatory Research project explored the perspectives and experiences of fathers living in a small-sized city in the Midwest to improve father-related practices and policies in the community. Individual interviews and focus groups prompted fathers to discuss the ways in which they are currently involved with their children, barriers to involvement, and how the community could better support fathers. A qualitative thematic analysis of data revealed five major themes that inform fathers' levels of involvement: 1) Mothers serve as gatekeepers to increase or decrease involvement, 2) technology use interferes with quality involvement, 3) the legal system favors mothers, 4) challenges during the teenage years, and 5) caring for themselves helps them care for their children. Findings led to several community changes and policy recommendations at the local and state level, which will be discussed.

Objectives
-- To analyze father data from an ecological, community-based perspectives
-- To critique family policies, programs, and supports from a father perspective
-- To discuss a coordinated community response to the identified needs of father and policy implications

Subject Codes: fatherhood, inequalities, parent-child relationships
Population Codes: income inclusive, People of Color, inclusive of adults
Method and Approach Codes: community participation/action research, grounded theory, thematic analysis

216-02: Family Child Care Providers in Low-Income Areas: A Qualitative Study With Policy Implications
Brittany Wittenberg, Erin Harmeyer, Salimata Fall

Summary
The purpose of this study was to understand how states can support family child care (FCC) providers in delivering quality care to low-income children and to uncover the challenges of FCC providers in meeting state certification requirements. Semi-structured interviews with 30 FCC providers in the southeastern United States were completed, transcribed, and open-coded to determine themes among provider responses. Preliminary findings indicate the need for increased financial support for FCC providers in the form of a pay raise per child and grants to improve the FCC home environment. Additionally, some FCC providers indicated they felt state policies deferentially treated FCC and center-based providers. These findings are directly applicable to how states allocate resources to FCC providers which, in turn, impacts low-income children and families.

Objectives
-- To understand the challenges of family child care (FCC) providers in meeting state certification requirements for children who receive child care subsidies.
-- To understand how policies can better support FCC providers in delivering quality care to low-income children.
-- To inform policy changes in the supports and resources provided to FCC providers.

Subject Codes: child care, governmental assistance and programming, poverty
Population Codes: educators, low income, African Americans
Method and Approach Codes: qualitative methodology, content analysis, policy/policy analysis

216-03: Minority Capacity in Rural Communities: Stakeholder Perceptions of Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Individuals and Families and Housing Instability
Jasmine Routon, Ramona Faith Oswald

Summary
Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals and families in rural communities are uniquely vulnerable to housing instability due to limited nondiscrimination policies that protect against housing discrimination by orientation or gender identity at the local, state, or federal level. Rural communities disproportionately manifest high and persistent poverty rates (Mammen, Dolan, & Seiling, 2015) and have fewer social service resources (Bauer, Dyk, Son, & Dolan, 2011). The excessive exposure to poverty and rural stigmatization of SGM identities puts this population at risk for housing instability. The mixed-method study aims to understand ways in which rural community characteristics, such as the presence or absence of protective policies, impact rural, unstably housed SGM individuals and families with a focus on stakeholder perceptions of how to address such needs.

Objectives
-- To assess stakeholder perceptions of SGM-specific needs and barriers to accessing resources when unstably housed.
-- To analyze the effectiveness of municipal level SGM-inclusive nondiscrimination policies on SGM individuals and families.
-- To inform policymakers and practitioners about the unique needs of unstably housed SGM populations and provide.

Subject Codes: homelessness, housing insecurity, inequalities, communities
Population Codes: transgender inclusive, sexual orientation inclusive, rural
Method and Approach Codes: applied research, mixed-methodology

216-04: The Effect of CRE on Fathers' Parenting and Children's Socio-Emotional Skills: The Role of Neighborhood Disadvantage
Elif Dede Yildirim, Francesca Adler-Baeder, Julianne McGill

Summary
Using principles of the bio-ecological systems model, the family stress model, and the risk and resilience framework, this study aimed to explore the effect of CRE programs on paternal parenting, and children's socio-emotional skills across neighborhoods. The sample consisted of 193 fathers and their young children. Fathers in the program group reported a decline in the use of dysfunctional parental practices, and reduction in children's problem behaviors, compared to the control group. We plan to assess whether the strength of the associations between paternal parenting and children's socioemotional skills across programs varies depending on the neighborhood residential characteristics. We expect contextual factors inherent in lower-resource communications may diminish the program effects of CRE on fathers' parenting and children's socio-emotional skills.

Objectives
-- to assess the effect of CRE programs on fathers' parenting and children's social competence
-- to explore the links between individuals' sociodemographic characteristics, paternal parenting, and children's socio-emotional skills, across program and control groups
-- to explore whether the strength of the associations between paternal parenting and children's socio-emotional skills across programs varies depending on the neighborhood residential characteristics

Subject Codes: fatherhood, poverty, parent-child relationships
Population Codes: early childhood, romantic partners
Method and Approach Codes: growth curve modeling (GCM), geographical informational systems, multilevel modeling

216-05: Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety and Social Status as Predictors of Early Head Start Families' Parenting Stress
Alison Hooper, Jason Hustedt, Juana Gaviria-Loaiza, Rena Hallam, Gerilyn Slicker

Summary
This study used measures of neighborhood safety and perceived social status as predictors of parenting stress in families enrolled in Early Head Start. Results suggest that after controlling for family, child, and neighborhood demographic characteristics, perception of neighborhood safety significantly predicted family stress in multiple domains. This highlights the importance of considering families' perceptions in addition to their demographic characteristics to more fully understand their experiences with stress. These differences in perceptions may contribute to families responding differently to interventions and programs such as Early Head Start.

Objectives
-- To examine differences in perceptions of safety and social status among Early Head Start families.
-- To explore the predictive power of perceived safety and social status in families' parenting stress after controlling for family and child demographic characteristics.
-- To offer recommendations for interventions and policies for children and families given the important role of families' perceptions of their neighborhood and social status.

Subject Codes: stress, parent-child relationships, parenting
Population Codes: early childhood, early childhood education, low income
Method and Approach Codes: regression: linear (simple, multiple, hierarchical), applied research, quantitative methodology

Facilitator: Jordan Arellanes