The nation's future depends in large part on its children's ability to develop into contributing adult members of society. For that reason, and for what many would consider a society's moral obligation to care for the young and vulnerable, Congress and the nation take an interest in promoting children's well-being. It can be argued that children are the nation's most valuable resource, constituting the next generation of workers, taxpayers, and parents. Their well-being and ability to develop into productive adults in an increasingly competitive global economy is influenced by a variety of factors, and public policies can affect these factors to varying degrees. Parents and family life exert a primary influence on children's well-being throughout their development and into adulthood. The family is the place where children develop their first attachments to other people—usually to their parent(s) as their primary care giver(s). Early attachments have been shown to have consistent and enduring influences on children's social and emotional development. The family is also the economic unit that obtains and manages the resources that meet a child's basic needs, while also playing a significant role in stimulating the child's cognitive, social, and emotional development. The structure of a family plays an important role in children's well-being. Divorce, the loss of a parent due to death or incarceration, or being born to a single parent can change or create a family's composition and character and ultimately affect children's well-being. According to some estimates, about 50% of children under age 18 will spend or have spent a significant portion of their childhood in a home without their biological fathers. In 2011, 23.6% of the 74.6 million U.S. children (under age 18) were living in families headed by their mothers, with their fathers not present. A broad array of social science research and analysis indicates that although most children who grow up in single-parent families become well-adjusted, productive adults, children raised in mother-only families (or with a mother and stepfather) are more likely than children raised with both biological parents to do poorly in school, have emotional and behavioral problems, become teenage parents, and have poverty-level incomes. This report displays and discusses some of the data related to the poverty of children and their living arrangements and data on male employment and earnings, educational attainment, and incarceration. It then provides information on federal programs that could play a greater role in addressing poverty of children through the fathers of these children (nearly all noncustodial parents are fathers). These programs provide economic assistance, family support, and job training and employment to eligible participants. The report also examines federal programs that have the purposes of preventing teen pregnancy and helping disadvantaged youth obtain the skills and support they need to make the transition to adulthood. The underlying premise of these programs generally is that the aid or services received from these programs by low-income noncustodial fathers can help them in meeting their financial commitments to their children (or future children) and providing emotional support to their children. The report concludes by presenting several public policy approaches proposed by the policy community that might improve the lives of low-income noncustodial fathers and their children. For example, social policy could play a role by expanding economic assistance programs to noncustodial fathers, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and implementing strategies to prevent the build-up of unpaid child support through early intervention. There is widespread agreement that the negative outcomes associated with living in a single-parent family compared to living with both biological parents are primarily due to the low income of the family and the poor quality of the parent-child relationships. Single-parent families are more likely to be poor than two-parent families, especially if the lone parent is the mother. Public policy research and programs have generally focused on children and their single mothers, especially those on the lower end of the income and asset continuum, because these families tend to be impoverished, which generally translates into poorer outcomes and less well-being for children. During the welfare reform era, public policy initiatives were enacted to require low-income mothers to participate in the workforce, and to provide work supports for them. Welfare-to-work efforts might have succeeded in their primary goals of reducing the welfare rolls and spurring more work among single mothers. However, these families often remained poor; the work efforts of the single mother alone often failed to increase incomes as their low wages merely replaced low welfare benefits. Since reaching an all-time low in 1969, the poverty rate for children generally has grown. The increase in the number of single-parent families, which tend to have a high incidence of poverty, has contributed to this overall higher rate. Another way to address poverty in single-parent families and improve child well-being is through the fathers of these children (nearly all noncustodial parents are fathers). Even though there is general agreement among policymakers and the public regarding the importance of the father in improving the well-being of his children, federal welfare programs have to a large extent minimized or underplayed the role of fathers in the lives of children. Moreover, other federal programs and/or systems that serve or involve men—such as employment and training programs and the criminal justice system—have not fully addressed the unique needs and circumstances of fathers, particularly those who do not have custody of their children. In some cases (of child abuse and/or domestic violence), a father's involvement with his children may do more harm than good. However, in most cases, involving fathers in the lives of their children is generally regarded as a worthy policy goal. A myriad of studies indicate that an active and nurturing style of fathering is associated with better verbal skills, intellectual functioning, and academic achievement among adolescents. These studies suggest that fathers who are involved, nurturing, and playful with their infants have children with higher IQs, as well as better linguistic and cognitive capacities. Girls with involved, respectful fathers see how they should expect men to treat them and are less likely to become involved in violent or unhealthy relationships. According to some research, even from birth, children who have an involved father are more likely to be emotionally secure, be confident to explore their surroundings, and, as they grow older, have better social connections with peers. These children are also less likely to get in trouble at home, school, or in the neighborhood. It is also reported that children who grow up with involved fathers are more comfortable exploring the world around them and more likely to exhibit self control and pro-social behavior. According to sociologist Dr. David Popenoe, "Fathers are far more than just 'second adults' in the home.… Involved fathers bring positive benefits to their children that no other person is as likely to bring." The financial and emotional commitment of fathers to their children is a crucial factor in child well-being. It may be that the next era of welfare reform will incorporate the new thinking in this area—that both parents are important to their children. The issues raised by father absence—and the social and economic context affecting men's abilities to be responsible fathers—spans a wide spectrum of social policy domains including income support, employment and training, housing, and the criminal justice system. Over recent decades, the wages of men have stagnated and even fallen. While women and single mothers increased their labor force participation, work and labor force participation among men actually declined. Additionally, incarceration rates for men, especially low-income men, have risen considerably over the past several decades. Efforts to help fathers, especially low-income fathers, play a successful role in improving the well-being of their children may prove to be challenging given that the financial situation of many men is precarious and their living situations are often complicated. There is a scarcity of data on the economic and demographic characteristics of noncustodial fathers. The Census Bureau's major household surveys that produce official employment and income statistics, the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the American Community Survey (ACS) do not capture information to determine whether a man living in a household without children is a noncustodial father. The most recent snapshot of noncustodial fathers was taken through the Urban Institute's National Survey of American Families (NSAF), discussed above, which was part of the Institute's Assessing New Federalism project initiated in the wake of the 1996 welfare reform law and privately funded through foundations. Given the lack of recent and consistent trend information on noncustodial fathers, this report talks about men in general to provide a sense of the economic and social context in which noncustodial fathers live. That is, the report does not provide information on the characteristics of noncustodial fathers, but rather provides the economic and social trends generally affecting men that have a bearing on the ability of noncustodial fathers to help support their children. Persistently high rates of child poverty, which refers to children under age 18, have long been a social policy concern. In 2011, the official poverty rate for children was 21.9%, meaning that a little more than one in five children were classified as poor. Child poverty rates vary dramatically by family setting. In 2011, the child poverty rate for related children in female-headed families (usually headed by a single mother) was 48%. For children living in families headed by a married couple, the poverty rate was 11.0%. Female-headed families have historically been the focus of policies for disadvantaged families with children.