Just Trying to Find My Place: African American Fathers' Reflections on Coparenting in Informal Kinship Care

Background and Purpose

Relatives are raising a growing number of children with neither parent present in the household. Informal kinship caregivers assume responsibility for relative children without involvement or support from the child welfare system. It is estimated that the majority of kinship care arrangements in the United States are informal. Although it may be assumed that birth parents are not involved in their children’s lives while in the care of relatives, research suggests that parental involvement exists on a continuum from low to moderate or highly involved. Given the limited number of scholars who have explored birth parent involvement in the context of informal kinship care, there remain several gaps in knowledge regarding the dynamics of this involvement. The current study explores the nature of the coparenting relationship between informal kinship caregivers and the biological fathers of the children in care.

Method

Participants included 15 self identified African American fathers with children living in informal kinship care arrangements. Each father completed a one-hour semi-structured interview and was compensated $25 for their time. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Fathers were recruited in local child support offices, probation/parole offices, barbershops, gyms, fatherhood programs, community agencies and via sponsored ads on Facebook and Twitter. Two project team members attended each interview, serving as the facilitator or note taker. Data were coded and analyzed by three team members, two Black women and one Black man, using the rigorous and accelerated data reduction (RaDaR) technique (Watkins, 2017). Guided by the overarching research question, the project team completed four phases of data reduction to arrive at the final themes and subthemes.

Results

Fathers identified two main concerns in their coparenting relationships. The first theme centered around shared decision-making. While fathers desired to contribute to discussions and actions regarding their children’s wellbeing, many felt the safest and most responsible action was to defer to the relative caregiver for decisions regarding the child’s health, education, and daily living. Relatedly, fathers expressed concern about lack of legitimacy in their fathering roles outside of the context of the coparenting relationship. As such, fathers reported not having independent relationships with their children’s healthcare providers, educators, or extra-curricular supervisors, unless approved or accompanied by the relative caregivers. Most fathers expressed wanting additional latitude in these areas, but would not express those concerns to relatives in order to maintain peace.

Conclusions and Implications

While fathers expressed a desire to have heighted roles in the lives of their children, they also expressed not being fully prepared to do. Preparation for this level of parenting could take place in the context of the coparenting relationship. Service providers should consider ways to engage informal kinship caregivers and nonresident fathers in work that will enhance their relational capacities to best meet the needs of the children in care. Implications for future research and practice will be discussed.