Jobless Dads Get Quality Time With Children as Caregiving Rises

Jeff VanderHeijden didn’t expect to be a stay-at-home father for his 3-year-old daughter, especially after getting a raise and promotion as a counselor last year at a residential program for troubled teenagers. Two weeks later, he was fired.

That’s when VanderHeijden, 35, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, joined the growing ranks of U.S. men spending more time caring for a child. One-third of fathers with working wives are now a regular source of care for their children, the result of the depressed economy and large numbers of out-of-work men, the U.S. Census Bureau reported yesterday.