West Virginia has begun to reframe its approach to family support, using a powerful metaphor: catching families before they fall into the river rather than pulling them out downstream. That upstream vision naturally creates space for father engagement. It recognizes that family stabilization cannot occur while ignoring half of a child’s parental ecosystem.
If prevention is truly the goal of child welfare reform, then we must be honest about what prevention actually requires. It requires earlier engagement, deeper trust, and a fuller accounting of who belongs in the work of stabilizing families. Family Resource Centers were built for that purpose. Fathers, however, have too often remained on the edges of their design — present, but not prioritized.
Our work in West Virginia makes this reality unmistakably clear.
West Virginia currently ranks first in the nation for the number of children in foster care per 100,000 residents. Persistent poverty, high rates of substance use disorder, and long-standing economic disinvestment have placed an extraordinary strain on families across generations.
West Virginia is also home to one of the most expansive Family Support Center networks in the country. With 57 centers serving 54 of its 55 counties, this network creates community hubs providing upstream, preventive support before families reach crisis.
On paper, the infrastructure is strong. But in practice, fathers remain largely invisible.
During technical assistance visits conducted by Fathers Incorporated through the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC), frontline staff across Family Support Centers consistently described serving mothers and children, while rarely engaging fathers in any sustained way.
Intake systems often identify only the head of household, leaving nonresidential fathers uncounted. Services branded “for families” are frequently scheduled during work hours, lack targeted outreach to men, or unintentionally communicate that fathers are peripheral. The result is not hostility toward fathers, but omission.
And the omission of fathers has consequences.
In a state where nearly half of children are born to unmarried parents and where many children live in kinship or child-only TANF households, failing to engage fathers limits options. It narrows the pool of potential caregivers, weakens co-parenting relationships, and increases the likelihood that families will encounter the child welfare system rather than be supported away from it.
What West Virginia also demonstrates, however, is possibility.
State leadership has begun to reframe its approach, using a powerful metaphor: catching families before they fall into the river rather than pulling them out downstream. That upstream vision naturally creates space for father engagement. It recognizes that family stabilization cannot occur while ignoring half of a child’s parental ecosystem.
Fathers Incorporated’s work with West Virginia’s Department of Human Services has centered on this shift — helping staff examine assumptions, change language and imagery, and develop practical strategies for engaging fathers affected by poverty, substance use, and system involvement.
Family Resource Centers are well positioned to lead this evolution nationally, but they cannot do it alone.
This is where the National Family Support Network (NFSN) holds uncommon influence. As a national intermediary supporting family resource centers, NFSN can help normalize father-intentional practice across the field. This means moving beyond welcoming fathers when they appear, toward designing systems that expect their presence, track their engagement, and measure their impact on family outcomes.
West Virginia illustrates both the cost of inaction and the promise of alignment. Despite extensive family-serving infrastructure, the absence of father-centered strategies has limited the preventive power of that system. At the same time, recent legislative changes granting fathers equal parental rights at birth signal a growing recognition that paternal involvement must be addressed structurally, not symbolically
The lesson is not unique to West Virginia. It is national.
Family Resource Centers are part of a prevention infrastructure. Responsible fatherhood programs represent prevention strategy. When the two operate in silos, families experience fragmented support. When they align, children are more likely to remain safely connected to their parents and extended family networks, reducing unnecessary foster care placements and shortening the duration of system involvement.
If we are serious about keeping children safe, then father engagement cannot remain optional, informal, or unmeasured. West Virginia’s experience shows us that the work isn’t about inventing new systems but activating the ones we already have.
Family Resource Centers already sit at the front door of prevention. Fathers are standing there, too. The next chapter of child welfare reform will be written by whether we choose to open that door with intention, clarity, and the understanding that strengthening fathers strengthens families. And that is the most durable form of prevention we have.
