Adolescent Fathers & Child Welfare: A Scoping Review

While the needs of adolescent parents and young parents involved with the child welfare system have garnered attention in the literature, comparatively little research is available on the unique needs of adolescent fathers who are system-involved as either subjects of child welfare cases (i.e.. in foster care) or a parent of a child who is placed in foster care. This scoping review, conducted by the Field Center team in collaboration with Dr. Meredith Matone, DrPH, MHS of PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), will map and synthesize the scope, nature, and characteristics of the literature on adolescent and young fathers who are involved with the child welfare system. Our review aims to inform policy and practice with young child welfare involved fathers and generate future research inquiries.