Statement on Efforts To Promote Responsible Fatherhood

Over the past 8 years, Vice President Al Gore and I have worked hard to promote responsible and engaged fatherhood. On Father's Day 2000, I asked six agencies to jointly produce Federal guidance that would help States and communities strengthen the role of fathers in families. Today I am pleased to announce the release of this guidance, entitled "Meeting the Challenge: What the Federal Government Can Do To Support Responsible Fatherhood Efforts," which provides valuable information about Federal resources and policies.

This guidance represents a critical step in the ongoing Federal efforts to promote responsible fatherhood. Vice President Gore's 1994 Family Reunion conference on the role of men in families significantly raised the visibility of fathers, and in 1995 I issued an Executive memorandum calling on Federal agencies to review every program, policy, and initiative to ensure that meaningful efforts were being made to strengthen fathers' involvement with their children. Since then, many agencies throughout the Federal Government have developed fatherhood initiatives, and collaboration—among agencies and with private partners—has been the cornerstone of these efforts.

Today, this interagency work is bearing fruit, not only in the form of the guidance being released today but also through the many innovative projects that are highlighted within the report. For example, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services (HHS) worked together on the Fathers Matter initiative, producing a CD-ROM to help teachers, early childhood educators, and social service and health providers engage fathers in their children's learning. The Departments of Labor (DOL) and HHS, with the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Education, and Housing and Urban Development, have worked together to improve employment and training opportunities for fathers through the implementation of the welfare-to-work program, which I fought to fund in 1997 and extended this year. And through the reentry initiative that I proposed and Congress funded in the fiscal year 2001 budget, DOJ, DOL, and HHS are working together to address the needs of ex-offenders, many of whom are fathers, as they rejoin their families and communities.

I want to applaud the leadership of HHS on this project and commend the Departments of Agriculture, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, and Labor for their valuable contributions. I encourage States, tribes, communities, and nonprofit organizations to use this new resource to explore the exciting possibilities for strengthening the role of fathers in the lives of their children.