Best Kept Secret: Single Black Fathers
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Description
The Best Kept Secret studies the often-overlooked group of single, African American custodial fathers. While the media focuses on the increase of single mothers and the decline in marriage in the black community, Roberta Coles paints a nuanced picture of single black dads. Based on qualitative research, the author looks at the parenting experience of these fathers, who may have become single parents through nonmarital births, divorce, widowhood and adoption. The fathers, ranging in age from 20 to 76, discuss their motivations for taking custody of their children, what roles they enact as parents, what they hope for their children, how they socialize their children in a diverse society, how parenting daughters differs from sons, and what parenting has done for them personally. Coles then recommends policy changes to improve the situations for children and single parents-particularly often-unseen fathers. Filled with dynamic interviews and intriguing case studies, The Best Kept Secret shows that single black custodial fathers do exist and looks at the ways raising children has shaped their lives.
ISBN
9780742564251
Publication Date
2009
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield
City
Lanham, MD
Disciplines
Family, Life Course, and Society | Gender and Sexuality | Race and Ethnicity | Sociology
Comments
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introducing a New Concept: Black Single Custodial Fathers
Chapter 2: Choosing to Parent on Their Own
Chapter 3: Being All Things to their Children: Parenting Roles and Behavioral Goals
Chapter 4: Fathering Daughters and Sons: The Role of the Child's Gender
Chapter 5: Negotiating Racial Identity and Socialization
Chapter 6: Is Fathering Good for Fathers?
Chapter 7: Single Custodial Fathers and Institutional Policies
References
Index
About the Author