June 15, 2012 | Posted by Jackie Jones
Atlanta Black Star
At Atlanta Black Star, we are spending this entire week celebrating, honoring, exploring and uplifting Black Fatherhood by examining it through the lens of 7 themes: Lead, Build, Provide, Care, Protect, Work and Love. This is the fifth story in the series, examining how committed black fathers are to protecting their families.
Before we go any further, let us put one thing to rest.
Recent studies suggest that black fathers are more involved in raising their children and even others kids than many believe. Black fathers have been found to have the higher rates of visitation or support compared to whites and Hispanics. The Atlanta Black Star reports:
Before we go any further, let us put one thing to rest. Black fathers are good fathers, in ways big and small, regardless of whether they are good husbands or boyfriends—and there is documented proof.
“An increasing number of quantitative and qualitative studies find that of men who become fathers through nonmarital births, black men are least likely (when compared to white and Hispanic fathers) to marry or cohabit with the mother. But they were found to have the highest rates (estimates range from 20 percent to over 50 percent) of visitation or provision of some caretaking or in-kind support (more than formal child support),” according to The Myth of the Missing Black Father, edited by Roberta L. Coles and Charles Green (Columbia University Press 2009), which reviewed a range of studies that looked at fathers’ engagement with their children.
One study found that only 37 percent of black nonmarital fathers lived with their children, “but of those who weren’t cohabiting, 44 percent of unmarried black fathers were visiting the child, compared to only 17 percent of white and 26 percent of Hispanic fathers. These studies also suggested that black nonresident fathers tend to maintain their level of involvement over time longer than do white and Hispanic nonresident fathers.”
Our Father, Our Heroes:
Jackie Jones, a veteran journalist and journalism educator, is director of Jones Coaching LLC, a career transformation firm.
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Saturday, June 16th 2012 at 8:14PM
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