The field of fatherhood programming is still relatively new. the history of FATHER Project, known first as the “Minneapolis FATHER Project,” represents the various shifts in research, funding and public attention of the fatherhood field. Through program evaluation and demonstration projects, as well as increased political and social support, the fatherhood field continues to develop in America today.

In the 1970’s, the role of fathers began to be reconsidered as action toward gender inequality emerged. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s, public interest about the absence of fathers continued to grow. Many practitioners and policymakers began to suspect that welfare and child-support enforcement policies were weakening the process of family formation among unwed, low-income mothers, low-income fathers and their children, and the term “fragile families” developed.  As this trend began to be publicly discussed, children from fragile families accounted for a growing percent of welfare caseloads and tended to stay on welfare longer. In response, the U.S. Congress formed the Welfare Reform Task Force, which led to the 1996 passing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. Researchers in the newly emerging fatherhood field began to examine how policies, such as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, focused heavily on women and children, with paternal responsibility being addressed by “cracking down” on the 3 million absent fathers, considered by many to be “deadbeat dads.”