State report on dads finds 80% have jobs

Fathers are better dads in Hawaii.

At least that’s what it looks like in some key areas, according to a new study on fatherhood in Hawaii, which found that island dads are better off than their mainland counterparts in education, employment and income.

The report, “The State of Fathers in the State of Hawaii,” also found that fathers here are more likely to be part of a two-parent family than others nationwide and are less likely to be an absent father.

The report by Selva Lewin-Bizan, assistant professor with the University of Hawaii’s Center on the Family, was released Wednesday at the state Legislature’s Keiki Caucus at the state Capitol.

Chet Adessa, chairman of the state Commission on Fatherhood, which sponsored the study, hailed the report as an important resource for state agencies to help them focus on the needs of fathers.

“We wanted to get a snapshot and get the information to local community agencies so they can see where the gaps are and where the needs are,” Adessa said.

The 45-page report, he said, is a picture of the state of fathers in Hawaii, their number and geographical distribution, the children they are fathering, and the families and households they are part of.

According to the report, nearly three-quarters of Hawaii’s families with minor children — 72.6 percent — are maintained by married couples, compared with the 67.9 percent national rate.

What’s more, less than a fifth of Hawaii’s households – 18.9 percent – are fatherless, which is significantly less than the 24.1 percent national average, it says.

The report says the largest racial or ethnic group of fathers in the state is Asian or Pacific Islander, followed by Caucasian. Within all racial groups, most fathers in Hawaii are married.

According to the report, Chinese fathers are more likely to be married and live with their wives than fathers from other groups. In addition, among all divorced fathers, the largest racial group is white.

A higher percentage of fathers in Hawaii has completed at least high school — 96.5 percent — compared with 94.1 percent nationwide.

Most fathers here — 80 percent — are employed, while only 3.1 percent are unemployed. The rest are not in the market for a job.

Despite scoring well against their counterparts on the mainland, many Hawaii fathers and their families are in need of support, according to report author Lewin-Bizan.

She noted that in Hawaii the proportion of single fathers is higher within the group of fathers that have no formal schooling than it is within groups with higher educational attainment.

Also, according to the report, the proportion of single fathers is higher within the group of fathers with annual earnings of less than $10,000 compared with any group of fathers with higher earnings.

“This combination of factors impairs some men’s ability to financially support their children,” Lewin-Bizan wrote. “Indeed, the rate of children living in married-couple households with an income below the poverty level in Hawaii is 7.6 percent, but the rate for children living in father-absent family households is almost 4.7 times higher at 35.3 percent.”

According to the report, 7.1 percent of Hawaii’s children live with a single father.

And 14.6 percent of Hawaii’s children live in families with an income below the poverty level, which is lower than the 20.8 percent nationwide. The federal poverty level for a family of four is $24,250 a year.

Adessa said the report is the first phase of the commission’s strategic plan that was initiated in 2013.

“We needed to know what fatherhood looked like in this state,” he said.

The next phase, he said, is to create an inventory of services and work with policymakers to help secure additional federal, state and county funding for fatherhood issues.

Adessa said many local agencies have a fatherhood component to their missions and could use the extra money to address those areas.

The state Legislature created the Commission on Fatherhood in 2003, but the panel floundered for years because of a deficit of volunteer commis-sioners.

Carl Makino, vice chairman, said the group was finally able to achieve a quorum three years ago and launch the strategic plan.

The next phase of the project is important, he said. Makino recalled that when he worked for the Salvation Army, he tried to help single fathers and was looking for resources to assist them.

“There’s not much out there I could find for families with only a dad,” he said.