Employment Outcomes for Fathers of Children with Disabilities: The Role of Community Resources

Background and Purpose: Existing research demonstrates that parents of children with a disability are more likely to reduce employment hours or quit employment to meet caregiving demands. According to the 2023/24 National Survey of Children’s Health 19.4% of parents with a child with special health care needs (SHCN) reported cutting back hours, or stopping work compared to 5.4% of parents without a child with SCHN. Studies also show that community resources, such as safe neighborhoods, supportive friends, and adequate medical care can improve employment outcomes. Most current research focused on mothers or female carers who are more likely to give up employment. This research addresses this gap by examining employment outcomes of fathers, comparing employment status of both fathers with and without a child with SCHN and the impact of community resources on employment. The study examines the following questions:

1. Are fathers who care for a child with SHCN less likely to be employed compared to fathers who don’t care for a child with SHCN?
2. Does adequate medical care and supportive neighborhoods improve employment outcomes?

Methods: This study uses the 2023/24 National Survey of Children’s Health. The survey collects data through online and paper surveys conducted in English and Spanish. The current research uses a subsample of participants who identified as fathers, resulting in a sample size of 30,738 with 6,378 fathers identifying as caring for a child with SHCN and 24,360 as not caring for a child with SHCN. Fathers in the sample were on average 50 years old, with an average of 1.8 children in the home who were on average 10 years old. The majority was married or partnered (88.5%), had a college degree (66.2%), and whose partners were also employed (66.9%). Descriptive statistics were used to examine demographic information and binary logistic regression to examine the effects of having a child with SHCN, receiving adequate medical care, neighborhood safety and support, and demographic information including child and father’s age, father’s education, marital status, and number of children on employment.

Results: Most fathers were employed (97% child with SHCN and 97.6% No-SHCN), which was a statistically significant difference ((1, N=30,378) = 6.4, 𝑝<0.05). Accordingly, having a child with SHCN was initially a significant predictor of employment status. Once community resources such as medical care, neighborhood safety and neighborhood support were added it did not remain significant. In the final regression, fathers whose children lived in safe and supportive neighborhoods, who were younger, with more education and married/partnered were significantly more likely to be employed. Receiving care in a medical home approached significance in the final regression model at 𝑝=0.053.

Conclusions and Implications: Study findings confirm the critical nature of supportive communities for employment. Employment is critical for economic security and family flourishing. Families with disability care responsibilities face additional barriers to financial security and to equitable participation in society. The presentation will discuss implications of these findings for social work research, education, and practice to build a more just and inclusive democracy.