Baby Elmo Leads Dads Back to the Nursery: How a Relationship-Based Intervention for Incarcerated Fathers Enhances Father and Child Outcomes

Although children's contact with involved, committed, nonresidential fathers can improve social, emotional, cognitive, and academic outcomes, fathers have largely been absent from parenting interventions that overlook men's role as a critical parenting partner. This article details research showing that young incarcerated fathers' attitudes about--and communication and responsiveness to--their very young children improved following a brief psychoeducational intervention and describes a second pilot project with child-welfare--involved fathers and families. The projects enrolling high-risk, difficult-to-engage parents yielded promising findings, demonstrating how building interventions that are inclusive of fathers stands to benefit child outcomes.