This presents the new and important challenge of helping poor fathers out of poverty and into situations where they can help to support their families, said Jeffery M. Johnson, president of the National Center of Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Community Leadership, a group researching and trying to alleviate the problem of unmarried urban fathers.

"What it does for the first time is puts before child support [agencies] fathers who don't have money," Johnson said. "What the heck do you do with him?"

Johnson said community-based organizations are important in solving the problems of urban fathers and families, stressing that non-profits at the local level can closely interact with families.

Additionally, government agencies need to help keep unmarried couples together soon after children are born, when the parents are often still very close, panelists said. Studies show that 51 percent of parents at the time of out-of-wedlock births are living together and another 30 percent are romantically involved.

"Is the primary role of government child support offices just to collect money?" Mincy asked. "Can government instead help bring families together?"

Geyser University Professor William Julius Wilson, the moderator of the forum, said that his studies of the problems of separated fathers in Chicago show that poor unwed fathers without work often lose self esteem, leading them to rationalize that they do not have a responsibility to provide for their children.

"How are we going to help dads who can't pay but are involved in his child's life?" Mincy said.

A final panelist was Stan McClaren, the director of Father Friendly Initiatives, a Boston community-based organization to help separate urban fathers.