Sources:
1 – U.S. Census Bureau estimates based on unpublished data from the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (2008 is the most recent year for which data are available.)
2 – U.S. Census Bureau, 2012, America’s Families and Living Arrangements, Tables FG1 and FG3
3 – U.S. Census Bureau, 2012, America’s Families and Living Arrangements, Table FG6
4 – U.S. Census Bureau, 2012, America’s Families and Living Arrangements, Tables FG8 and C3

Balancing Father Time
Fathers are much more likely than mothers to say they are not spending enough time with their children.
Image from Pew Research Center Report.

Source: “Modern Parenthood: Roles of Moms and Dads Converge as They Balance Work and Family” Pew Research Center, March 14, 2013. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/03/14/modern-parenthood-roles-of-moms-and-dads-converge-as-they-balance-work-and-family/

Balancing Work and Family
Fathers who are growing more committed to their families face ever-increasing demands in the workplace.
48% of working fathers have missed a significant event in their child’s life due to work at least once in the last year and nearly one in five (18%) have missed four or more.
More than one in four (27%) working dads say they spend more than 50 hours a week on work and nearly one in 10 (8%) spend more than 60 hours.
One in four (25%) working dads spend less than one hour with their kids each day. 42% spend less than 2 hours a day.
36% of working dads say their company does not offer flexible work arrangements such as flexible schedules, telecommuting, job sharing and more.

Source: 2007 Survey by CareerBuilder.com

Dads and Housework
Fathers now spend more time engaged in housework and child care than they did half a century ago. And the amount of time they devote to paid work has decreased slightly over that period.

Source: “Modern Parenthood: Roles of Moms and Dads Converge as They Balance Work and Family” Pew Research Center, March 14, 2013. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/03/14/modern-parenthood-roles-of-moms-and-dads-converge-as-they-balance-work-and-family/

Caring Adoptive Fathers
Researchers investigating differences in fathering found that adopting parents were rated the most nurturing and involved compared to adopting stepfathers and nonadoptive stepfathers.

Source: Schwartz, R.J., and Finley, G.E. (2006). Father involvement, nuturant fathering, and young adult psychosocial functioning differences among adoptive, adoptive stepfather, and nonadoptive stepfamilies. Journal of Family Issues, 27, 712-731.

Challenges for Divorced / Non-Custodial Dads
20% of custodial mothers see no need for the children to continue a relationship with their fathers, and 40% of children of divorce haven’t seen their father in a year. The courts are quick to protect a mother’s right to financial support, but slow to protect a father’s right to child contact.

Source: Richard Niolon PhD, “Divorced Fathers” September 21, 2010 PsychePage.com  http://www.psychpage.com/family/divorcedads.html

Challenges: Complex Families
At-Home Dads – According to 2012 estimates, 189,000 married fathers with children younger than 15 have remained out of the labor force for at least one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wife works outside the home.

Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements, Tables FG8 and C3

Pre-schoolers in “father care”:

June 1977	14%
Fall 1986	15%
Fall 1991	20%
Spring 2011	18%

Source: Census Bureau report, “Who’s Minding the Kids? Child Care Arrangements

Single-Father Households
Image from Pew Research Center Report.

Source: “The Rise of Single Fathers: A Ninefold Increase Since 1960” Pew Research Center, July 2, 2013. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/07/02/the-rise-of-single-fathers/

Dads in Prison
The number of children with a father in prison increased from 881,500 in 1991 to more than 1.5 million in 2007, a 77% increase. During that time, the number of children with a mother in prison increased by 131 percent, from 63,900 to 147,400.

Source: Lauren Glaze and Laura Maruschak, Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children (Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2008).